


Et Tempus Defuit

by SunRae5



Series: Pictures on a Wall [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Children, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, HP: EWE, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-07-22 13:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 51,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7440952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunRae5/pseuds/SunRae5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten years on, looking at the pictures on a wall, one realises how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. And also how much can still change since ten years, although a long time, is not as long as it seems. EWE</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Release

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone,  
> This is a cross-posting of my story on Fanfiction.net. The story is already finished so a new chapter will be coming out every day. This story is a fix-it of sorts to the ending that we received from the Deathly Hallows; Fred's death was traumatising and I could not deal with it or, in fact, with any of the deaths really so here is my take on what would happen if some characters got the chance to move on from the war they experienced before others. I hope that you enjoy it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and the others find out that time is not always what it seems and Kingsley also makes a surprising discovery.

 "Off to my mother and her absolutely lovely Boxing Day dinner!" George grinned as Angelina sent him a mock scowl.  
  
 "Are you implying that I cannot cook?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and he laughed. Roxanne laughed happily in her mother's arms, not really understanding what was going on but smiling nonetheless because of her parents' good mood.  
  
 "No, I would never imply that. Why would you think that?" He asked, feigning hurt as he put a hand over his heart, pretending to be wounded. Freddie giggled as he watched his father's antics.  
  
 "With you, anything is possible." She replied with a snort and he smiled in reply, his eyes twinkling.  
  
 "Well then, let's go meet the rest of your family and break the news." She said as he picked up Freddie to get ready to floo over with him in his arms.  
  
 "Prepare for the worst." He muttered darkly to himself and Angelina just shook her head in exasperation before taking the green powder into her free hand, the other holding onto a bouncy Roxanne tightly. She threw the powder into the fireplace and a loud shout of 'the Burrow!' echoed around the living room and she was gone.  
  
 "Well, let's go then Freddie." He said with a smile and his son nodded happily. He took the powder from the flower pot and the two of them stepped forward.  
  
 He threw one last look at the pictures on the wall to calm himself, the excitement of seeing his family taking over as he thought of what was waiting for him on the other side. As he threw the powder into the fireplace and he stepped forward into it with Freddie in his arms, he shouted loudly 'the Burrow!', a name he had not said in way too long a time.  
  
 As the emerald flames engulfed them, he remembered what Hermione had asked him to do a couple of days ago. 'Aw crap.....' ran through his head as he thought of it, the others weren't going to like this turn of events.  
  
 His surroundings began to take shape again as familiar forms of the Burrow's living room made themselves clear and he knew that he'd think about that problem later. For now he would forget the pictures on that wall of his back home and concentrate on the people and happenings that were in front of him right now.  

 

~.~.~.~.~

 

  _Five weeks earlier....._  
  
 Harry looked around the darkened corridor in front of him for stragglers as he checked every nook and cranny if there was anyone still out after the curfew. Along with him on patrol was Blaise Zabini, the current Head Boy of the school.  
  
 After returning to Hogwarts after the war and to complete his final year of schooling, he had found out that his whole year had become a temporary eighth year that was only present this time around so that they could redo the year that they had missed out on due to the war. And to finish their NEWTs of course. Or rather, to actually do them in the first place as was the case for some of them. Kingsley, while acting as a temporary Minister of Magic due to the chaos that was currently present in the Ministry, had proclaimed that they wouldn't be of any help to anybody without having at least a proper degree first and knowing all the stuff that the others knew when leaving school to get a job, so they had been ordered to go back to school to do exactly that.  
  
 Internally he was quite happy about that decision since it gave him another year to decide on what he wanted to do now that Voldemort was actually dead and because it gave him a chance to enjoy a relatively stress-free year at Hogwarts before setting off into the world. Of course, the whole 'he wouldn't be bothering him anymore by trying to kill him since he was dead' was also a bonus. A murder free year did sound wonderful, if he could say so himself. He of course still complained along with Ron though about the fact that they were the only year that had to do homework for a year longer than the rest of the school. This had resulted in Hermione starting a long tirade about the importance of school and a proper education that had shut both of them up pretty quickly.  
  
 So they had returned to the school a month earlier than the first of September with the other students all returning within that month too to help and rebuild the school. Originally, he and Ron had wanted to accompany Hermione on the search and recovery of her parents but she had remained adament that this was something that she wanted to do on her own. _"I sent them away so therefore it's only right if I alone get them back. You two are not going to be coming with me, this is something I have to do by myself."_  
  
 Hermione. He missed her dreadfully. It had been ten weeks since school had started and she still hadn't returned to Hogwarts. After seeing that she wasn't back the first day of school, he and Ron had been ready to storm out of the castle and go and look for her to make sure that she was safe. That was when they had found out that they were unable to leave Hogwarts and its grounds, including Hogsmeade. Professor McGonagall had assured them that the Ministry was probably doing everything in its power to set it right and that she and the professors would do their best from inside whatever barrier was holding them to get them out.  
  
 By now ten weeks had passed and they were still unable to get out and by the looks of it, anyone else was also able to get in. It frustrated him that in the one year where he thought he would finally have some peace and quiet, another huge problem had arisen.  
  
 And since Hermione hadn't turned up, she had also been unable to claim her position as Head Girl. Due to that the teachers had been forced to choose a new Head Girl since they couldn't just leave the position unoccupied. In the end, Ginny had been chosen to fill that position due to her all-round good academic grades, as well as her heavy involvement in Quidditch.  
  
 Everyone had been suprised, nobody more so than Ginny herself. Mrs. Weasley had danced with joy when finding out that her only daughter had become Head Girl. He and Ron had both become prefects, something that pleased Ron in particular, despite that he would have rather avoided the extra responsibilities that came with it. He had also become Quidditch captain and was currently training his team to finally win the Quidditch House Cup with him as captain this year. Ron had also become Keeper once more and Ginny was a Chaser and he had managed to find an extremely competent set of people to fill the rest of the spots.  
  
 Although with Draco Malfoy's absence from school and thereby also from the Slytherin Quidditch team, he was pretty confident that they would be able to win this year, something that pleased him immensly.  
  
 And with Malfoy's absence, the school also had the problem of a vacant Head Boy position. When they had found out that Malfoy was meant to be Head Boy, he and Ron, as well as several others, had gone to Professor McGonagall to complain about her choice. She had told them that despite his past and the varying dubious decisions he had made throughout the years, he was still the boy with the highest academic results in school, as well as (mostly) exemplary behaviour. His trial had proclaimed him innocent during the summer so he had been free to return to school but he had not returned before the strange barrier spell had been cast on the school, so he hadn't been able to claim his position. Thus the Head Boy badge had been passed to another Slytherin, Blaise Zabini.  
  
 It was starting to become obvious that a certain someone thought that inter-house unity should be a thing.  
  
 Harry didn't remember a lot about the dark-haired Italian that was currently patrolling the corridors with him. He had some memories of Blaise in the Slug Club during his sixth year, but apart from those he knew that the Italian had never really stood out amongst the Slytherins.  
  
 He was incredibly good-looking, or so half the school's population proclaimed, and apparently he and Malfoy had been quite close. Harry couldn't remember him ever partaking in harassing the other houses as much as the rest of the Slytherins though. He had always seemed pretty neutral and from what he had heard from both Blaise himself and the others, the young man had left the country with his mother for Italy at the beginning of the war and had only returned after it was finished, thereby completely keeping himself and his family aloof from the death eaters and Voldemort which he found quite astonishing, considering the fact that Blaise was a Slytherin and all.  
  
 But from all of his interactions with Blaise so far, he could see that the man had never really believed in or followed the ancient beliefs of pureblood supremacy despite being a pureblood himself. He was courteous to Ginny and the girls and pleasant to the rest of them, so Harry had not had a single problem with him the whole year. That and the fact that apparently he and Luna had started dating.  
  
 The mere thought boggled his mind, not only was Luna dating a Slytherin but one of the most popular ones at that. And by the looks of it, Blaise was enjoying himself while being with Luna, keeping up with her crazy theories and talk of animals that didn't really exist, even believing in one or two of them himself.  
  
 Yeah, this year was definitely different to the rest of the years. The barriers between the houses in his year and the one or two years below his own were nearly gone. The Slytherins did not go out of their way to torment them while the Gryffindors did not try and bait them all too much (occasional baiting still happened though, you couldn't change everything after all). The years below that though were still the same as always, the rivalries remained and the jabs and insults were still thrown across the room at one another, but nobody mentioned blood purity or something along those lines. Everyone steered clear of that topic; it was pretty much taboo.  
  
 Overall the year had been pretty peaceful so far, despite the fact that they couldn't leave Hogwarts and that they couldn't send any mail to anyone outside either. The owls simply returned with the letters untouched and they hadn't gotten the Daily Prophet since the second to last week in August.  
  
 Some of the Order members were also in the castle to help with the rebuilding. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were here to help rebuild, as well as look after Fred while he recovered from his near death experience. When the corridor had collapsed on them back during the Battle of Hogwarts, Fred had pushed Percy out of the way and had been burried underneath a wall. It had taken their combined efforts to unearth him and they had managed to get him out, barely breathing with a cracked ribcage, several internal injuries and more cuts and bruises than one cared to count.  
  
 Tonks and Lupin hadn't fared much better. Their old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had jumped in front of his wife and taken a curse from her and was still in a coma from it. Tonks had been hit by several dark curses but none had proven to be fatal and she had finally been able to get up and start trying to walk again a week ago. Due to the overwhelming numbers of wounded that were in St. Mungo's, a lot of the people injured in the Battle of Hogwarts had remained in the castle to recuperate so as to take some of the pressure off of the overflowing hospital.  
  
 Percy had remained to watch over Fred while George had gone away to look at the damage done to the shop and possibly even the Burrow but he had also been unable to return and thus they hadn't seen him either in ten weeks.  
  
 Ginny and he had decided to take a break from one another while healing from the battle but after three months they still weren't back together and he wasn't quite sure why that was. He missed her dreadfully in the sense of her being his girlfriend but he wasn't quite sure how to breach the subject with her when she was being as moody as she currently was.  
  
 Ron wasn't much better in that sense either. His best friend had brooded and moped for three weeks straight after Hermione had said that she wanted to concentrate on the aftermath of the war rather than a possible relationship before going off to Australia, leaving Ron feeling quite insulted since he had been hoping to finally start a relationship now that the war was over. After that, his friend let some of the fame get to his head and now he was walking around with a new girl every couple of days, although Lavender had managed to keep Ron interested for two weeks now which was an achievement in itself.  
  
 It wasn't as if Ron had suddenly done a complete one-eighty though, he still played chess and lazed around and complained about work. He was still there every time he needed someone to talk to about the craziness that had been their life until now. He was just appreciating that women were actually interested in him now. Harry snorted as he let that thought go through his head; appreciating might be a slight understatement for it.  
  
 It was in moments like these, when he had a lot of spare time to think while on patrol, that he missed Hermione especially. She would have been able to stop Ron from acting like he was god's gift to women and she would have been able to talk to Ginny and figure out what was wrong with her. He only hoped that the stupid barrier would soon vanish so that she could come back to school and they would be able to sort everything out. The wounds from the war were still fresh and in the process of healing and he really wished that they would fade one day for all of them, until they were nothing but reminders of bad times, and not headaches and nightmares that visited often.  
  
 "Oi, Potter." Harry's reverie was broken as Blaise pointed outside of the window. "Do you know what that is?" Harry looked into the direction that Blaise was pointing to and saw what looked like violet dust falling from the sky.  
  
 "I'm not sure." He said as he shrugged. "But maybe....." hope bloomed in his chest, "maybe it's the barrier finally breaking." He grinned as his gut told him that he was probably right. Blaise's face lit up.  
  
 "You think so?" He asked, some hope also glimmering in his eyes.  
  
 "Let's go and ask McGonagall." Harry replied and the two of them set off to the Headmistress' office to see if their assumptions would be proven correct.  


~.~.~.~.~

  
 It was the middle of the night as the floo roared into life in the Headmistress' office. Minerva McGonagall looked at the fireplace in surprise. It hadn't worked once in the last ten weeks when she had tried to leave the castle or even floo call Kingsley at the Ministry or anyone else.  
  
 She had been working on the reports that would be sent home with the children over Christmas, reading them over, checking them and then signing them. It was always a long and tiring job, and she preferred to start as early as possible so that she wouldn't have too many sleepless nights in the weeks before the Christmas holidays began.  
  
 Through the emerald flames stepped the very man that she had been thinking of, Kingsley Shacklebolt. She smiled warmly as her mind reached the conclusion of what this meant. The barrier was gone and she would finally be able to call back the students that had been missing out on their school work and the students and teachers themselves would be able to get in touch with their families once more.  
  
 "Minerva." He smiled warmly in return. "How have you been?"  
  
 "Good." She nodded towards a seat and he took it. "But tell me, what happened? We have been unable to reach anyone in weeks."  
  
 "Weeks?" Kingsley grew paler as his mind began to work in overdrive.  
  
 "Yes, ever since the end of August we've been unable to leave the grounds and we've also been unable to send any owls." She put down her quill and got a rather uncomfortable feeling as her old friend looked at her closely.  
  
 "Minerva, I know that this question may sound strange but, what year is it?" He asked and swallowed heavily. He did not want this to be what he thought it was. His aurors had spent ten years trying to figure out what spell had been cast on Hogwarts but no one had been able to figure out what it was. If this was what he thought it was, then this was bad.  
  
 Minerva's brow furrowed ever so slightly. "It's November of 1997, the war ended six months ago on May the second." She replied cautiously.  
  
 "Minerva....." Kingsley began softly, "it's not 1997 anymore. It's November of 2007." Minerva felt all the air leave her lungs as she slumped slightly in her seat.  
  
 "What?" Incomprehension was written all over her face, disbelief coloured her eyes.  
  
 "We've been trying to get in touch with you for ten years." Kingsley truly didn't know how to lessen the blow that ten years had passed by without her knowledge. "We've been trying to break the spell on the castle and it's ground for ten years and my aurors informed me not five minutes ago that the spell had somehow disintegrated. I came here immediately to see what was happening and found that I could floo into the castle for the first time in a very long time." His eyes held pain and pity and Minerva felt slightly faint. This could not be happening.  
  
 "Ten years?" Her usually strong voice faltered slightly and he winced.  
  
 "Yes. Ten years have passed since we last heard a word from you. We didn't know what spell had been cast but I'm pretty sure I know what it is now, seeing your reaction and what you told me."  
  
 "A preservation spell?" She asked and he nodded in response.  
  
 "It certainly seems though. I have never seen one of this scale though. From what I know, preservation spells are normally only cast on inanimate objects such as flowers."  
  
 "And they disintegrate after a set amount of time." She finished and he nodded once more.  
  
 "Ten years?" She asked once more, the information finally beginning to settle in.  
  
 "Yes." He responded quietly and she began to sit up again. She couldn't let this get her down, she needed to figure out a solution to the problem at hand. They would have to tell the children and the teachers. They would have to prepare them for a changed world. She was the Headmistress now, she couldn't allow herself to be weak in a time like this.  
  
 "What's happened in the last ten years?" Her strength began to return as she made herself a rather strong cup of tea and prepared herself for a lot of information. The reports would have to be done another time.  


~.~.~.~.~

  
 Harry looked around the common room in anticipation. When he and Blaise had arrived at Professor McGonagall's office last night, Kingsley had been there explaining something to her so she had sent them away and told them that she would have several announcements to make to the school to the following morning where everything would be explained.  
  
 He had been disappointed that McGonagall hadn't told them more last night, like whether the barrier really was gone or not, but Kingsley had been there, and since Kingsley had become the temporary Minister of Magic to help sort out the chaos that was the aftermath of the war, he knew that whatever they had been talking about was probably something important. And probaby something to do with the fact that they had been cut off from the rest of the world for the last ten weeks.  
  
 "Come on Harry, let's go!" Ron called out excitedly as Harry grinned in reponse and ran after his best friend. He had told Ron and Ginny about his assumptions when he had gotten back from patrol last night and now the two of them couldn't wait to see if it was true or not.  
  
 If it was, then they would be able to see Hermione again. Ron and Ginny would get to see the rest of their family once more. They would be able to see how the world was recovering after the war, they would know about the trials of various death eaters and how they had ended. They wouldn't be in the dark anymore.  
  
 As they walked into the Great Hall, excited chatter met their ears. It seemed as if the news of the strange sparks last night, as well as Kingsley coming for a visit, had passed around rather quickly. Harry could hear murmers about it from every direction. But that was only natural, not a lot had happened in the last couple of weeks, so this was the first bit of larger news in quite some time.  
  
 As they sat down at the table for breakfast, Ron immediately reached for some food and began eating which caused Harry to chuckle at the predictability and unchanging habits of his friend, while Ginny nagged at him to try and eat in a more presentable manner. According to her, Ron ate 'like a pig'.  
  
 "Won-won!" Lavender's happy shout could be heard long before she even reached them and he and Ginny winced slightly as she came closer. If Hermione were here to see this, she would probably be fuming and would send some of those 'Oppugno' birds at Ron for his and Lavender's behaviour. While she might have told him that she wanted some time to sort things out first, Harry was pretty sure that she was staying faithful to Ron while he wasn't doing any of that.  
  
 They began eating as McGonagall wasn't at the teacher's table yet and chatter about upcoming tests and homework that was due and complaints about lessons and teachers filled the air between them. Harry noted that Ginny looked happier than she had been in weeks.  
  
 "Students!" McGonagall's amplified voice reached their ears. "Settle down please! The Minister of Magic and I have some very important news to tell you!" Silence settled over the hall as her voice faded away. Everyone's attention was directed at the teacher's table where their Headmistress stood next to Kingsley Shacklebolt, the temporary Minister of Magic. If Harry didn't know any better then he would have said that McGonagall looked pale and exhausted and that Kingsley looked extremely worried.  
  
 A smile settled on Kingsley's face as he looked around the hall. It had been so long since he had seen these people, it was a joy for him to see them all alive and well.  
  
 "Students of Hogwarts," his voice was also amplified, although with the silence currently reigning it probably didn't need to be. Everyone could hear his every word, "Esteemed teachers and helpers that have been working so hard to rebuild the school, it is truly good to see you all again."  
  
 His eyes swept around the room and they briefly settled on Ron, Harry and Ginny and Harry swore he saw sadness sweep through them before the eye contact was broken and Kingsley continued with his speech.  
  
 "It has been a long time since I have seen you all," a murmer swept through the hall, "and believe me when I tell you that words alone cannot express my relief at seeing you all well."  
  
 "What's he talking about?" Ron muttered. "We've only been stuck here for ten weeks, he's talking like it's been ages." Harry shrugged in response, no words coming out of his mouth. A bad feeling was settling in his stomach and over the years he had learned that his gut feeling was pretty much always spot-on.  
  
 "After talking to your Headmistress, the aurors and I have managed to find out what spell had been placed on the school that stopped you from leaving and anyone else from entering it. The Ministry, in particular the aurors, have been spending a lot of time and effort in figuring out what it was. Believe me, if we had known sooner, a lot of what is about to come could have been avoided." Harry and the others did not like the way that Kingsley was talking, something was wrong here, he now knew that.  
  
 "The spell that the school, the grounds and Hogsmeade were placed under is called 'Infinitam florent'. It roughly translates as infinte flower. It is an extremely powerful preservation spell that up until now we only thought was used to preserve flowers and other inanimate objects for a certain amount of time. It is similar to the way Muggles create something called plastic flowers, the beauty of the plant is meant to be preserved for maybe not eternity but a very long time none the less."  
  
 Harry looked at the other students and glanced at the Slytherin table. A lot of them were looking extremely pale, almost ill. Pansy Parkinson looked as if she actually wanted to be sick, an unhealthy green tone colouring her cheeks.  
  
 "Ten weeks may have passed for you." Kingsley swallowed heavily. "For the rest of us, your ten weeks while under that spell have been a whole decade."  
  
 "Ten years?" They all looked over at Professor Trelawny who looked as if she was about to faint.  
  
 "Yes." Kingsley nodded. "Ten whole years have passed while you were caught under that spell."  
  
 Ron's spoon fell from his hands with a loud clatter as silence invaded the whole hall. Nobody could move, everyone was frozen. The information hadn't been processed completely, people hadn't gone into shock just yet.  
  
 "The Headmistress and I will speak to you all individually or in groups before anything else is done. Until everything has been explained to you all, none of you are leaving the campus. I have aurors posted everywhere around the boundaries to make sure of that. All of you have a ten year gap and are therefore unaware of what the world is now like. We need to make sure that you are all well-informed before anything else happens." Kingsley's expression was one of a person that had just told you your family had died. Abstractly Harry realised that for some people that might be the case.  
  
 "I'm truly sorry for all of this. I shall see you all shortly." Kingsley left the hall with their Headmistress while the rest of the student body, as well as the teachers sat there, the shock and severity of the situation finally sinking in.  
  
 None of them moved for another ten minutes while silence reigned. Then the protests began.  


~.~.~.~.~

  
 "Molly, Arthur and everyone else. Please, come in all of you." McGonagall nodded at them all in greeting and Harry could see the exhaustion clearly on her face now. It had taken all of the teachers combined, as well as a couple of the more level-headed students to calm down the others that morning before they had all gone to lessons.  
  
 People had been pulled out of class the whole day and yet it still felt surreal to Harry. He didn't want any of it to be true. It couldn't be. Wasn't this supposed to be the year where he was finally able to have some peace?  
  
 "Is it true?" Mrs. Weasley's voice quivered and the rest of the Weasleys looked at the Headmistress uncomfortably. The news had hit them all hard, but the matriach of the family was the one who was showing the most emotion and her distressed state was making them all uneasy.  
  
 "I'm sorry to say that it is so." Again Harry thought that the voices they were using when talking about the whole affair sounded an awful lot like someone had died. He really hoped that this wouldn't be the case.  
  
 "But what about George and Bill and Charlie?" Ginny asked quickly, the pain unmasked in her eyes.  
  
 "They are all fine. In fact, they are all quite happy at the moment." Everyone's attention focused on Kingsley as he was the one now talking. It made sense, Harry guessed, that Kingsley would be the one doing this since he was the one who had come into Hogwarts from the outside. Professor McGonagall probably didn't know any more than they did about each individual family.  
  
 "They are okay?" A sense of relief seemed to be settling over them all by now.  
  
 "Yes. In fact, George has also married and settled down and Bill and Fleur are still residing in Shell Cottage. Charlie's the same as always." Kingsley's eyes twinkled.  
  
 "He's what?!" Ron looked at the former Order member, completely flabbergasted. He wasn't the only one.  
  
 "My idiot of a brother is what?" Everyone looked surprised and Fred, who had been allowed to leave the hospital to join them in the office for this meeting, looked like he was going into shock.  
  
 "Married." Kingsley looked amused at their reaction.  
  
 "He's not even thirty yet!" Fred finally managed to choke out and the others nodded. Fred and George had always said that they wouldn't want to get married and settle down before they were thirty so that they could enjoy life to the fullest, something that had always annoyed their mother greatly.  
  
 "He got married four years ago. He even has two kids. One of them named after you I believe." Kingsley said, most definitely amused at their varying states of panic at the news. Fred and his mother looked like they were about to go into cardiac arrest while Mr. Weasley tried his best to calm the two down. Percy was standing there like a statue, stock still and unmoving, trying to process the news that his irresponsible younger brother was married with kids. Ron was flailing about and Ginny had sat down in shock, all the news of the day beginning to wear down on her.  
  
 "What about Bill and Fleur?" Harry asked to diffuse the whole situation that was beginning to get slightly out of hand. After all, nobody had expected to hear any of this.  
  
 "Still happily married," Kingsley began and Harry had to refrain from smirking as Ginny muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'stupid phlegm' under her breath, "With three kids, the first being born a year after the war."  
  
 "I'm a grandmother." Mrs. Weasley's eyes watered and now everyone was trying to make her stop. None of them liked to see their mother cry. "Arthur, can you believe it? We're grandparents!" Happiness flooded her eyes and her husband nodded, a small smile on his face. It would take some time to get used to the idea that he was now a grandfather but he was sure that once he had seen them, the reality of things would really set in.  
  
 "What about my family?" Tonks asked quietly and everyone turned to look between her and Kingsley as he answered. Tonks had decided to leave her husband's side in the hospital wing briefly to come and hear about her friends and family.  
  
 "Teddy turned ten a couple of months back and from what I've heard, he can't stop talking about wanting to finally go to Hogwarts in September." Kingsley smiled reassuringly while Tonks sat down in a chair.  
  
 "He's ten?" She asked softly and he nodded. Harry guessed that this had to be especially hard on her, finding out that she had missed the first ten years of her child's life.  
 "Yes and he lives with your mother in this charming little cottage by the coast. Quite close to Bill's and Fleur's actually." He said and Tonks nodded, still looking slightly overwhelmed.  
  
 "What about Hermione?" Harry asked quietly, the question having plagued him ever since the announcement that morning.  
  
 Kingsley's expression grew more guarded and Harry wondered why. "She's happily living here in England. She returned two years ago from France."  
  
 "That's good to hear." Ginny said softly, having been worried that perhaps in the aftermath of the war something had happened to her.  
  
 "How is she?" Ron asked eagerly and Harry could clearly see the crush that Ron had been harbouring for her on his face. He wondered if Hermione had been waiting for Ron or if she had moved on. It would be extremely painful, especially for Ron, if she had moved on.  
  
 "She's good." Kingsley replied once more.  
  
 "And.....?" Harry tried to glean more out of the Minister, unsure why he was so unwilling to talk.  
  
 "And that is it. It is not my place to tell you anymore. What information you get is up to her." Kingsley said resolutely, once more shocking the others.  
  
 "What do you mean its not your place?" Ron exclaimed angrily but Kingsley's gaze remained unwavering.  
  
 "Exactly that Ron." He said gently, trying to lessen the blow. "None of you are direct family to her and although I know that you are the closest she has, you still aren't related to her by blood. Which means that I can only divulge a certain amount of information about her. Those are simply the rules, accept it. And anyway, I am sure that she wants to tell you most of this herself when she sees you again."  
  
 Ron was fuming and looked like he was about to explode so Harry quickly intervened.  
  
 "When can we see her and the others again?" He asked quickly.  
  
 "During your Christmas break." Kingsley replied.  
  
 "What?!" Mrs. Weasley looked aghast. "Do you mean that we cannot see them until then?"  
  
 "That's five weeks away!" Fred exclaimed.  
  
 "Yes, I know that. But please consider this. You have been gone for ten years and therefore have no knowledge of the situation of things outside the castle. You need to read through old newspapers that the Ministry will be supplying and we are also having people come in to brief you on laws, legislation and the political side of things. A lot of things have changed and most of us had ten years to get used to that change. You have not. You haven't even had the time to deal with what you have been told today properly yet. We cannot send you back out in the world while you remain ignorant to certain things. You could act in a way that will eventually cause more harm than good and I think we'd all like to avoid that."  
  
 "But....." Harry began.  
  
 "There are no buts here Harry. It is what has been decided and should you try to leave the castle before the Christmas break, we will be forced to detain you here. We simply cannot afford you going out there and something happening." Kingsley said and his voice left no room for arguments.  
  
 "I think you should all go back to bed now and sleep on what you have been told." They looked over at their Headmistress, almost having forgotten that she was there. "If you have any more questions, I am sure the Minister will be happy to answer them for you tomorrow." It was an order to leave and go to bed and everyone knew it.  
  
 As they all filed out of the office bidding goodbye to Kingsley and McGongall and thanking them, Harry knew that this might just possibly be worse than the war against Voldemort. It was already beginning to put a large mental strain on them and while he might disagree, Harry also knew that Kingsley was right. They would need some time to deal with the whole situation.


	2. Visiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione and Draco celebrate Christmas with their closest friends while the Weasleys, along with Harry and Lavender, meet George, Bill and Charlie again for the first time in a decade.

 "Finnigan, you look like your cat died." Draco looked at Seamus with amusement as the other just scowled at him. He opended the door to let the other man into the house.  
  
 "Might as well have." The Irishman muttered as he stepped over the threshold and Draco had to hold back a chuckle.  
  
 "That bad?" He asked, genuinly interested in what had happened that had caused such a mood in one of his best friends.  
  
 "You have no idea." He exclaimed with annoyance. "It was like I had committed murder or something!"  
  
 "Uncle Draco!" Two little boys ran towards Draco and he nearly fell over from the force with which they rammed into his legs with.  
  
 "She took it that badly?" Draco asked while simultaneously greeting Seamus' three year old twin sons and trying to get them to let go of his legs. It wasn't working. Sometimes, just sometimes, especially considering their mother, he thought that they had inherited the best possible attributes of leeches - hence the sticking to his legs.  
  
 "Oh no, she didn't just take it badly." Seamus shook his head and detached his two sons from Draco's legs. "She erupted like a volcano!" Draco knew that if the children weren't here then Seamus would probably be swearing. Even if it was just by using varying confectionaries as opposed to the actual words - having children tended to do that; completely and utterly destroy your ability to swear properly.  
  
 "What happened?" He asked and helped Sean, the older of the two twins, remove his jacket.  
  
 "She went on for a whole hour about how I could do something like that to that charming woman and how I could even think of doing something like this to the children, blah, blah, blah." Seamus had finished taking off Connall's jacket and boots and the younger twin joined his other half in running into the living room where Draco's children were.  
  
 "You only divorced the woman who was making your life into a living hell." Draco pointed out helpfully.  
  
 "That's exactly what I told her. But no, I made the biggest mistake of my life doing that according to my ever charming mother." Seamus continued ranting. "Only because she is still happily married to my dad after thirty years doesn't mean that a divorce is something horrifying and terribly wrong!" His arms were up in the air by now and he was trying to keep his voice down.  
  
 "Well, I'd put the matter behind me for now. Otherwise you'll start Hermione on a rant the topic and I think that would scare away Diana." Draco patted his friend on the shoulder and Seamus' shoulders sagged as he let out a resigned sigh.  
  
 "I'm not going there at least until Easter and she's calmed down." He muttered and Draco just rolled his eyes.  
  
 "So how's Ella been?" Seamus started another topic, one that Draco felt much more comfortable talking about.  
  
 "She's good." He said with a warm smile as the two of them turned the corner into the living room where the others were all gathered. "She's been the quietest out of the four of them so far."  
  
 Seamus grinned at that. "So you only have to get up every four hours in the night instead of every three?"  
  
 "Actually it's more every four and a half but yeah. It's not like with Cassie where we had to get up every two to three hours." Draco remembered the many sleepless nights that he and Hermione had had when their first daughter had been born. Ella was definitely more quiet than her older sister.  
  
 "Well that's great for you two. The first couple of months you guys always look like the walking dead in the morning." Seamus chuckled, finding the thought of children being what brought Draco Malfoy to his knees an amusing one.  
  
 "Only in the morning?" Draco asked, the corners of his mouth threatening to twitch upwards. After being married to Hermione for seven years and therefore having been in relatively close contact with a number of Gryffindors, three of the Weasley brothers being some of the top candidates there, he had learned to take their teasing in stride. There was no use in getting riled up about any of it. Actually, once you got past their horrible pride and tendancy to be just as prejudiced as his own house, a few of them were actually quite pleasant to be around. But only a couple of them. The rest of the Gryffindors he would still rather avoid like the plague. Only because he had married one, befriended a couple of others and barely tolerated a few more, didn't mean that he wanted to spend all of his free time with them. He was still a Slytherin after all.  
  
 Yeah, he had to try and keep telling himself that.  
  
 "Well, by mid-day you normally remember that it's all worth it anyway so you have this unnaturally happy glow of parents who have just been blessed by a child. It's quite nauseating to watch sometimes." Seamus continued.  
  
 Draco snorted. "Nauseating is it?"  
  
 "Oh yes, most definitely." Seamus grinned broadly. "If someone had told me ten years ago that you would be blessed with four children by the end of the decade and married to our Gryffindor Princess to boot then I would have volunteered to become their partner in potions or charms." He grinned and Draco shook his head at his friend. At least the guy knew that he was cursed with something undefinable and rather terrifying that made things explode when he went near them.  
  
 "Well, I shall leave you to the tender mercies of my wife for now since I still need to finish dinner." Draco clapped his friend on the shoulder and then walked off in the direction of the kitchen, giving his wife a quick peck on the lips and his daughter on her head as she walked past him with Ella in her arms.  
  
 "Seamus." Hermione smiled warmly and gave him an awkward one-armed hug which he returned.  
  
 "Hermione." He returned the greeting with a grin. "Hey Ella." He smiled down at the two month old infant girl sitting in Hermione's arms. The small girl gurgled back at him happily. No matter what he said, he envied Hermione and Draco for their happy union to an extent. The two of them were so happy with one another while his own union had failed rather quickly. To be fair though, he had never been happier to be rid of someone else. His wife had been horrible and he had been overjoyed when he had won the custody war. Yes, she had gotten their house and a rather large amount of money from him but he was happier living in a slightly smaller house back in England with his two sons rather than his old house in France all alone.  
  
 And anyway, everyone else had already moved back to England anyway. Greg had moved back to England and taken up his job as an auror six years ago while Hermione and Draco had moved back two years ago, shortly after Jasper was born. He would always miss France since it had played such a large part in the healing of the scars from the war but he was planning to go back for a holiday at least once a year.  
  
 "How was your Christmas?" Hermione asked as they continued the treck to the living room.  
  
 "Absolutely horrible." Seamus replied, his mood darkening slightly.  
  
 "Your mother?" She asked with sympathy in her eyes and he nodded in response. If there was anyone who knew about estranged parents or having a different opinion to one's parents then it was Hermione. And Draco as well. Hermione had only recently started talking to her parents again; they had refused to talk to her, even come to her wedding, after finding out what she had done to them. She had said that she understood but Seamus knew that their reaction hurt her nonetheless. One did tend to love their parents unconditionally and when it turned out that that may not be the case for them in turn, it hurt. Badly.  
  
 And Draco had had a pretty crappy relationship with his parents before the war. It had taken years for him and Lucius to patch things up. They got along pretty well now, now that all the misunderstandings had been cleared up and all the apologies said, but Seamus knew that it had taken a very long time for that bridge to be mended. And even then many speed-bumps still had to be encountered and conquered time and time again.  
  
 "Yeah." He replied and she sighed softly. "But let us talk about something else. I've dealt with her for the last two days, I need something else to take my mind off of it." He grinned and she smiled back but he could still see the traces of empathy in her eyes.  
  
 Ella made a gurgling noise and Hermione chuckled at her daughter's actions. "Trying to cheer Mister Finnigan up, are you Ella?" She asked the small girl affectionately who just replied with another gurgle after a few seconds.  
  
 Seamus grinned at the small girl. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up." The small girl smiled back up at him.  
  
 "You know that your children are frightingly smart?" Seamus asked as they stepped through the doors that led the living room.  
  
 "Yes and don't start me on it." Hermione said with a sigh. "A week or two ago Jasper asked me and Draco what sex meant and what you did in it."  
  
 A large spluttering and coughing was heard from the table as Seamus nearly tripped as he missed a step. They looked up to see Goyle practically choking on whatever he had been drinking while his fiancée was clapping him on the back.  
  
 "Your two year-old son asked you what?!" Seamus exclaimed as he stared aghast at Hermione.  
  
 "Yeah, imagine mine and Draco's surprise when that happened. Draco practically went into anaphylactic shock when he said that." Hermione now only looked faintly amused by the whole situation.  
  
 "How did he even ask something like that?" Diana, Goyle's fiancée looked over at Hermione, waiting for her to elaborate. Goyle had met Diana at a conference in Genf two years ago, when he and his partner had been sent to accompany and protect the Minister while there. Diana had been the secretary of the German Minister of Magic and the two had hit it off almost immediately, with Diana leaving her old job and moving to England to be with her boyfriend. She was currently working as a secretary in the British Ministry of Magic in London and Goyle had proposed to her three weeks ago. This Boxing Day dinner also served as a sort of celebration for their engagement. They were going to be married in three months, it was going to be a spring wedding in the middle of March.  
  
 "Apparently Scorpius heard two parents talk about it at school when they thought none of the children were listening." Everyone looked up to see Draco entering the room with some glasses and a bottle of wine.  
  
 The others shot him incredulous glances. "They thought the children weren't listening?" Seamus, a father himself, felt affronted at the way the parents had acted.  
  
 "Yup, and Scorpius of course asks Jasper if he knows what it means which of course, like any two year old, he doesn't." Draco sighed as he put down a glass in front of each of them and began pouring in the wine.  
  
 "At least he's accepted that his younger brother's smarter than him." Diana pointed out.  
  
 "I think we all figured that one out when he said his first word at the age of six months, half a year before most babies even begin to think of saying words." Hermione said.  
  
 "What was his first word again?" Diana asked.  
  
 "Smart." Draco said with a word and they all burst out laughing.  
  
 "The kid definitely knows what he is." Seamus said between chuckles and he and Goyle shared a look. Hermione and Diana rolled their eyes at the behaviour while Draco just grinned good-naturedly.  
  
 "So what did you do next?" Goyle asked as he reached for his glass.  
  
 "We told him that it was something that adults did and that we would explain it to him when he was older." Hermione said with a smirk.  
  
 "Smart move." Seamus said as he leaned back into the couch.  
  
 "It gets even better." Draco muttered darkly and they raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
 "What happened next?" Diana asked and Hermione blushed. That made them all wonder what the intelligent tot had said next.  
  
 "He asked us if it was something that we did, since we were adults." Hermione muttered while Draco decided that this was a perfect moment to go and check on the dinner. It had nothing to do with the fact that his face was bright red as he remembered his son's question. Nothing at all. The others burst out laughing. It took them a good couple of minutes to calm down again.  
  
 "I love that kid." Seamus said appreciatively.  
  
 "A curse to his parents for inheriting their brains." Goyle said with a grin.  
  
 "He is absolutely adorable though." Diana added.  
  
 "If you're talking about Jaz, then yup, that kid is going to be a heart-breaker when he grows up." A voice said from the doorway and they all looked up to see Adriana, another good friend of theirs standing there.  
  
 "You heard the story?" Hermione asked her friend as she stood up to greet her.  
  
 "All of it." Adriana grinned. "Had to say, it was a very entertaining thing to listen to while taking off my jacket and my boots."  
  
 Hermione sent her friend a mock glare as Adriana settled down next to Seamus. She'd met Adriana Cossack two years ago when they'd moved back to England. They had literally bumped into each other in the middle of Muggle London and as an apology for practically spilling all of her coffee over her, Adriana had asked Hermione to join her for a cup of coffee as compensation and the two had spent two hours talking, finding out by chance that they were both witches before Adriana had had to go to work. She'd left with a slip of paper telling her when to meet next and since then the two of them had built up a strong friendship.  
  
 Adriana had originally come from the USA but after the war, with Hogwarts closed up and all, everyone had been looking for people to do jobs and thus Adriana had come over straight after finishing her school. The chestnut-haired woman still found many things strange about England, but she had come to appreciate them for all their quirks over time.  
  
 "Congratulations on getting engaged by the way you two. I don't think I ever actually managed to congratulate you." Adriana grinned at Goyle and Diana and he blushed while she smiled happily.  
  
 "Thanks." Diana grinned and they could all see how happy she was.  
  
 "You know that that means that I'm the only one single right now?" Adriana asked morosely and the others chuckled at her. She pretended to be affronted. "What? You over there," she pointed at Hermione who raised an eyebrow at her, "have been happily married for seven years to one of the most gorgeous men to walk this planet."  
  
 Seamus snorted.  
  
 "Don't you dare try and deny it Finnigan. He could turn straight men gay." She declared and they all heard a snort as Draco entered the room.  
  
 "Thanks Adriana." His voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Merry Christmas to you to."  
  
 "Thanks." She grinned brightly. "And I know that you are the husband of one of my best friends but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good looking man when I see one." Hermione and Draco both looked amused, they were used to her blunt comments by now.  
  
 "And then you have four adorable kids to boot, so shut it. Meanwhile you," she pointed at Seamus who resisted the urge to throw up his hands and shout 'I'm innocent!', "were married and while you are now divorced you have two charming kids!"  
  
 "Charming my ass." Goyle muttered and while Seamus just chuckled good-naturedly, knowing how troublesome his twins could be, Adriana sent him a look that quickly shut him up.  
  
 "And you two are now engaged! All my friends are either already in a committed relationship or settled. And now I'm the only one single since you decided to propose and you decided to accept." She gestured at Goyle and Diana who just smiled at her. She made it sound like they had committed the crime of the century by doing that.  
  
 "Oh come on, we all know that you enjoy your current lifestyle too much to give it up. And anyways, not all of your friends are in a committed relationship. Aren't Chloe and Fiona just as free and happy as you are?" Hermione asked while Draco took Ella from her arms to which the small girl made a happy gurgling noise.  
  
 "Chloe's started muttering about finding someone to settle down with and Fiona's just passed the two month anniversary mark with Tom. That's the longest she's ever been with anyone!" She exclaimed and the others laughed.  
  
 "Don't worry you'll find someone sooner or later." Diana said consolingly.  
  
 "That's exactly the problem. My mum's started to get on the case too." Adriana muttered in annoyance and sank down further in her chair.  
  
 "And that right there, ladies and gentlemen, is the crux of today's problem." Seamus announced dramatically which prompted Adriana to lob her purse at him. As he failed to dodge it, laughter filled the room once more.  
  
 The rest of the night was filled with pleasant chatter and an even more pleasant dinner which only ended past midnight, long after all the children had already been put to bed.  
  


~.~.~.~.~  


  
  _The Burrow_  
  
 Ginny wandered around the corridors of the Burrow lost in thought. It had been five weeks since they had heard those news from Kingsley about their sudden time skip and to be completely honest, it hadn't really hit her yet. Today would be the first time that she would be seeing Charlie, Bill and George since (her) summer and she wondered whether time had changed them so much that she would have difficulty recognising them.  
  
 In a way all of them were scared of the meeting. George and Bill had both sent owls saying that they would be bringing their families with them and she knew that at that point she would no longer be able to avoid the truth of the present time.  
  
 And then there was the whole thing with Harry. He had come to the Burrow along with Lavender who had been invited by Ron, seeing as they really had nowhere else to go but also because her mother had insisted that they come and join them in their celebrations. Tonks had popped by yesterday briefly before going back to her mother and her son. Apparently Teddy was taking the whole thing with suddenly having a non-missing mother a whole lot better than Tonks was taking the 'suddenly-having-a-ten-year-old-son'. Lupin had been moved to St. Mungo's and with their more advanced medicine and knowledge, him waking up soon from his coma looked pretty promising.  
  
 Lavender on the other hand was annoying the living daylights out of her. She and Ron were an 'item' as of the moment but she couldn't wait until he dumped her. It had been fine in school where she hadn't had to deal with her fellow Gryffindor around the clock, but since Lavender was pretty much the only other girl around apart from her mother and occasionally Tonks, she found herself spending more time with her than she had ever desired to.  
  
 She just hoped that Ron would come to his senses soon and dump her, because if he didn't she would murder the chatterbox herself.  
  
 And then, of course, there was another, much more pressing, matter on her mind.  
  
 When she and Harry had decided to 'take a break' after the war, she had not envisioned the break lasting six months. In her heart she had kind of expected them to be together again after a couple of weeks but it seemed as if Harry was taking a bit longer to cope with the aftermath of the war than most others. She guessed that it wasn't strange, he had been the one to ultimately win their war after all.  
  
 Now it was just awkward between them though. Ten years had passed by and she wondered where they would be by now hadn't they been stuck in Hogwarts. Would they be happily married? Would they have children? Would they even be together? Doubts clouded her mind and while she knew that her love for Harry was as strong as it had ever been, she didn't know whether he still loved her.  
  
 She wanted nothing more than a happy family at some point in time but by now she was wondering whether Harry saw their relationship as something that had happened in the heat of the moment or whether he truly cared for her more than just his best friend's little sister.  
  
 Plus there was this whole thing with Hermione. Harry and Ron both seemed so hung up about seeing her again that she didn't know what to do. It was driving her nuts. The way that Harry acted you would think that he cared more for her than just as his best friend and Ron's crush on her was so obvious that even a blind person would be able to see it.  
  
 But then again she also missed her friend immensely. Never had she been more aware of how much she had relied on Hermione as one of her few female friends in school. The two of them had talked about matters that they couldn't really talk about with the boys and it was incredibly relieving to have someone like that. As of late, Luna had been filling that role a lot but she just wasn't the same as Hermione. She lacked the rationality that drove Hermione in the many things that she did.  
  
 And it was absolutely infuriating how no one seemed to be willing to tell them about their friend. Kingsley had avoided the topic like the plague, saying that they should wait until meeting Hermione herself and getting the answers from her. And she didn't really know anyone else that knew anything on what happened during the ten years during which they were trapped. She had even read through old newspapers but Hermione had somehow managed to avoid the press after the war, it was admirable but also incredibly aggravating.  
  
 She would get information out of her brothers though tonight and she knew that Harry and Ron had a similar idea. There was simply no way that they had stayed completely devoid of any contact to Hermione, especially straight after the war.  
  
 She heard the floo roar to life downstairs and she ran down the stairs, closely followed by the others that had been resting in their rooms and heard the noise. It meant that one of their brothers was here and they had all been waiting for that literally since the holidays had started.  
  
 "Bill!" She shouted overjoyed as she spotted her eldest brother and literally rammed into him, knocking the air out of his lungs.  
  
 "Gin." Bill grinned as he looked down at his only sister. It was almost surreal, seeing her again.  
  
 "How've you been?" She asked exactly at the same time as Ron exclaimed, "Kingsley said you had three kids!"  
  
 Bill chuckled as he looked at the rest of his family gathering in the living room. "Yeah, Fleur and I have three kids." He said when the floo roared to life once more.  
  
 "Dad, you forgot your jacket." A young girl's voice said and everyone peered around Bill to see a miniature version of Fleur standing in front of the fireplace. Her hair was slightly darker though and her eyes a bit lighter.  
  
 "Everyone, this is my eldest daughter, Victoire. She's nine." Bill said proudly as the young girl looked around in surprise at the many people gathered here. "And that's Dominique, she's seven." Another girl had just stepped through the floo and she looked like a perfect mix between Bill and Fleur, the red hair of the Weasley family still absent though. "And here's Louis, he's five." Bill said as his son stepped through the fireplace, the only one who had the bright red hair that his father also sported. "And I think you all remember Fleur." He smiled at his wife who smiled back before greeting the rest of them.  
  
 "It's so good to see you all again." She said warmly and Ginny noticed that her French accent was nearly gone but still present. It seemed that the many years of marriage in living in England had not only mellowed out her accent, if the softer look in her eyes was anything to go by. Mrs. Weasley rushed forward and hugged Bill tightly and Ginny noticed that his children were looking slightly overwhelmed.  
  
 "Kids, the wonderful woman currently hugging me is my mother, so your grandmother." He began to explain to his children. "The man standing in the doorway over there is your grandfather," he continued, pointed at Arthur who waved at them, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, "And starting from the right is my one and only sister Ginerva, but don't call her that, she hates being called by her full name." Bill's eyes twinkled and Ginny scowled at him.  
  
 "Just call me Ginny." She told her nieces and nephews who looked at her with interest.  
  
 "Next to her is Ron, he's a year older than Ginny." Ron gave a small wave. "Then there's Percy and next to him is your uncle George's twin brother Fred." Bill grinned at the two of them and Fred returned the gesture while Percy just inclined his head. "Then the two other people who are not related to us are Harry Potter, he's the one with the black hair and the glasses."  
  
 "The one who defeated Voldemort?" Victoire asked and Bill nodded while the others looked at him in shock.  
  
 "You told your kids?" Harry asked in surprise.  
  
 "Of course." Bill replied. "I have no intention of keeping them in the dark about what happened in the war and who was involved." His mother looked at him in disapproval and he merely shrugged. He knew that his mother thought that children shouldn't be exposed to the truth too soon but he had no intention of having them finding out about their parents' and their aunts' and uncles' involvement in the war from anyone else.  
  
 "And then the woman over there, next to your uncle Ron is what I'm presuming to be his girlfriend, Lavender Brown." Bill finished the introductions and the three children and Lavender nodded.  
  
 "They all have red hair." Dominique said and Bill chuckled.  
  
 "It's a family trait sweetheart." He said and Dominique frowned.  
  
 "I like my hair as it is." She said and Fleur was the one chuckling now.  
  
 "Only because it's a family trait doesn't mean that everyone in the family has to have it." She said and Dominique nodded, as if that explanation made her happy.  
  
 The floo roared to life once more and they all stepped away from it as a dark haired woman stepped out of the fireplace with a small child in her arms.  
  
 "Angelina?" Fred asked incredulously as Fleur hugged the woman as a greeting.  
  
 "Good to see that you could make it." She said.  
  
 "George took forever." She shrugged. "He was looking at the pictures again."  
  
 Bill, Fleur and Angelina shared a look that left the others confused. Was something going on that they didn't understand?  
  
 Fred on the other hand was still trying to figure out why his ex-girlfriend was standing in their living room with a child in her arms.  
  
 "Made it!" Came a shout behind Angelina and they all turned around to see George standing there holding a boy in his arms. The shout had obviously come from the boy, not from George himself. The little boy's arms were waving about in an erratic manner as he looked terribly excited.  
  
 "Freddie, please....." George looked in exasperation at his younger son. Whenever they went through the floo, Freddie got excited and bouncy. George wasn't sure whether it was because Freddie loved the floo or because he didn't.  
  
 "George?" Fred exclaimed and George looked up to see his twin brother sitting there, looking completely and utterly flabbergasted.  
  
 "Fred!" He grinned and stepped forward into the room. "Ron, Gin, Harry, Percy, Lavender." He greeted them all with a broad grin. "Mum, Dad." He nodded at them with a warm smile.  
  
 "You're married to Angelina?!" Ginny was the first to respond.  
  
 "Yup." He said with a smile.  
  
 "We got married four years ago." Angelina elaborated as they began to remove the coats and boots from their children. The others stared at them in something that was a mix between shock and surprise.  
  
 "I see everyone's already here." Came a deep voice behind them and they all turned to see Charlie stepping through the front door of the Burrow into the room. George smiled in slight relief as the appearance of Charlie had effectively distracted everyone from the fact that he had married his brother's ex.  
  
 "Charlie!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed happily, glad to see that her second eldest son had been able to make it too.  
  
 "Now all we're missing is Hermione." Ginny said with a grin, happy to see that they were all together once more.  
  
 "Hermione won't be coming today." George said slightly uncomfortably.  
  
 Harry's "What?!" came the same time as Ginny's and Ron's "Why?!".  
  
 "Because she's celebrating with her family." George said, finally able to remove his own coat. "And because a close family friend got engaged and they're celebrating that. But she told me to send her greetings and I've also got something for all of you from her. But more about Hermione later. Mum, I've heard that you made dinner?" He looked over at his mother with a hopeful grin, earning him a small mock glare from Angelina and a warm smile from his mother, despite the worry in her eyes.  
  
 What George had just said about Hermione made her queasy. Something had happened in the last ten years that George thought he would have to explain properly which meant that it was something complicated. She guessed that they would now perhaps see the full extent of what could happen in ten years time.


	3. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and the rest of the Weasleys find out from George, Bill and Charlie what everyone's been up to since the war ended and receive a surprising reveal about Hermione towards the end which leaves Ron furious.

 Dinner was finished. Harry looked around the large table in the middle of the kitchen of the Burrow and smiled at the image that met him. Everyone was leaning back in their chairs, contentment in their eyes. Some were even rubbing their stomachs because they were so full. This was the scene that he had always envisioned as a child, the scene of family and love that he had desired so long.  
  
 He smiled at Ginny next to him and she smiled back, for once the awkwardness between them forgotten. They had broken up six months ago and he wanted to get back together but he was unsure whether she still wanted to. After all, he had not really seen any signs from her direction that indicated that she wanted them back together; she appeared to be content with them being friends only. And he was also unsure of how to get back together. Would they just pick up where they left off? Should they start fresh? How did one go about such things?  
  
 Regretfully, while he knew an awful lot now on how to go about defeating evil wizards, he still had absolutely no idea of how women worked.  
  
 Over the course of the evening they had found out a lot about the lives of the people outside of the 'bubble' as they were now calling it. Bill was still a curse breaker at Gringrotts, although he mentioned that the goblins had gotten even more careful with whom they let into the bank and who stored what where; the pointed look that he sent Harry and Ron was ignored by both of them. It wasn't their fault that Hermione had decided to free the dragon while they were down there after all, although if they thought about it, they had hardly been innocent bystanders either. Meanwhile Fleur had been staying at home as a housewife to take care of the children. She had thought long and hard about it, according to Bill, as she had initially thought that she should go back to work a year after Victoire had been born but had then realised very quickly that you started to miss moments of your child's life if you weren't around. She had also been as exhausted as Bill had been at the end of each full day of work and that had meant that they both hadn't had the energy to spend as much time with their daughter as they wanted to as the housework still needed to be done once they had gotten back home. Thus once Dominique had been born she had decided to quite her job and focus on the children instead. She was now beginning to think about finding a job again though as next year, or the year after, Victoire would be going to Hogwarts and the other two would be following soon after.  
  
 They had grown older, one could see that. Time had been gracious though, the Veela heritage within Fleur made her look more mature rather than aged. Her silver-blonde hair still hung straight past her shoulders, being something that every woman envied, and her dark blue eyes still shimmered the way they had done ten years ago. Lavender had made a brief comment about how happy she must be about that. Fleur had shrugged, saying that it may be wonderful right now but she didn't fancy not being recognised as the mother of her children if she remained looking young. Bill still looked the same. There was no other way of saying it. It seemed as if he had not aged at all. He looked the same as he had done ten years ago which was nearly the same as when he had finished school. The scars that he had gained only made him look more rugged.  
  
 George was still happily tinkering away in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes although he had let out a string of complaints of Fred not being there to actually develop something new. But that was going to change now as Fred was back. They still had Verity employed as a helper, according to George anyway, and another teen came and helped out part time, especially when it was prime time and the extra pair of hands were needed.  
  
 Angelina had been a chaser for Puddlemere United, along with Oliver Wood who was Captain of the team by now, before leaving the Quidditch scene after a heavy accident that left her unable to bend her right arm back far enough to use her famous throws. Apparently it had been a bad case of a bludger hitting the shoulder at a bad angle and thereby shattering it. Even with Skele-Gro her arm never managed to heal completely and she had been working as a news correspondent for the Daily Prophet before leaving her job when Freddie arrived.  
  
 When Ginny had asked how she felt about her career being cut short Angelina had sighed. "I certainly miss it, that's for sure but I was also lucky. Quidditch is a pretty high-risk sport and the accident could have been a lot worse. A former friend of mine who played for the Wigtown Wanderers got a bludger to the head and she fell off her broom. Cracked her skull open when she hit the pitch. As far as I know she's still not woken up from her coma so I can only be grateful that it didn't happen to me." She had looked down sadly at that and George had put his arm around her and drawn circles on her upper arm in order to comfort her. That had been particularly strange for Fred to watch.  
  
 It had taken Fred the whole two hours that had passed since everyone had arrived to accept the fact that his twin brother had married his ex-girlfriend. Although it was pretty obvious that the whole 'twin brother being married' thing was what he was reconciling himself with, the whole 'marrying an ex-girlfriend' not so much. Him and Angelina had been over before the war had started and had ended their relationship amicably. Nonetheless, it had still been quite of a shock to actually see the two of them together.  
  
 Charlie on the other hand was still unwed, much to the eternal dismay of his mother. "Two of your brothers are married with kids!" She had exclaimed to which he had replied with a "But I'm not them", simply shrugging his shoulders.  
  
 "He's married to his job and the dragons anyway." George had told his mother almost consolingly.  
  
 His mother hadn't been amused.  
  
 "His job, and pray god the dragons, won't give me a grandchild though." She had replied sourly.  
  
 "You already have five." Charlie had muttered in reply and his mother had swatted him lightly on the back of his head after hearing that.  
  
 Not much had been said by them, the ones stuck at Hogwarts, so far they had done all the listening. After all, for them only six months had passed while for the others it had been ten years. After talking about what had been happening with Bill, Charlie and George, they had moved onto what the friends that had been outside of the 'bubble' had been up to.  
  
 "Seamus never returned, did he?" Ron asked and Harry nodded.  
  
 "Ah, the Irishman." George grinned. "He's done quite well for himself, although he's had a bit of misfortune as of late."  
  
 "What do you mean?" Harry asked.  
  
 "Well, after Hogwarts 'vanished' Seamus went to America to finish his education there. He was able to take and pass his NEWTs and after that he came back to England. He worked in the Ministry as an auror for two years, quite successfully if I might add, before deciding that he didn't want to work as an auror anymore and quit his job." George continued. Bill and Fleur were helping Mrs. Weasley clear up the remains of the dinner while Charlie was talking with his father about something or the other. Which left George to fill them in on what was going on nowadays, a position he took quite happily.  
  
 "He quit his job?" Ginny asked surprised, she hadn't expected her former ex to do that.  
  
 "Yeah, he was tired of chasing after bad guys. To be honest, after the war a lot of us were pretty tired of fighting." George shrugged, for him it was all in the past but they all found it intriguing. "A lot of people that had been right in the middle of the war actually left and decided to settle down somewhere else, either permanently or only temporarily, in order to get away from it all. I'd have done it myself if I hadn't had the Burrow and the shop to take care of then." George's admission suprised them all.  
  
 "Really?" Ginny looked sceptical.  
  
 George sighed. "It was a bad time, Gin. It sure as hell didn't feel like we'd won a war back then. Everything was ruined, the system in shambles and people were still scared to go outside of their front door or their bunker, even in groups. It's taken the past decade for things to normalise somewhat and quite frankly, getting away from it all was the only way that some people were able to cope. Especially if they were being hounded by the press for one reason or another at the time anyway." Harry noted the melancholy way that George had begun to speak and decided that changing the subject may be a good idea.  
  
 "What did Seamus do after that?" Harry asked, genuinly wondering what his old roommate had gotten up to afterwards.  
  
 "Well, he travelled the world for a year before deciding to settle down in France." George continued.  
  
 "In France?" Ron snorted.  
  
 "It is a beautiful country." Fleur commented in the passing as she moved some plates from the dinner table into the kitchen. Ron rolled his eyes.  
  
 "It's not exactly home though." The comment was muttered and Harry sighed. They all had a difference of opinion here on what people should and should not have done but it wasn't their place to judge people on what they had done eight years ago.  
  
 "Then he got a job there and he's kept at it for the past seven years, he's the deputy of Stellar Potions right now." George said, sounding proud.  
  
 "Stellar Potions?" Lavender asked.  
  
 "I've never heard of it." Ginny agreed.  
  
 "It was founded after the war." Bill said as he passed through the room, stopping briefly to tell them about the company. "It started off as a small potions company in France but over the past eight years since it was founded, it has become one of the top potion companies in the world. It has branches in over ten countries and has even recently began opening apothecary stores in the Muggle world."  
  
 "In the Muggle world?" Harry felt surprised, it was quite unusual to hear of any wizarding company alse venturing into the other world.  
  
 "Yeah." Bill replied as he picked up some cuttlery. "It's only two or three in Paris and one here in London but apparently the owners believe that you shouldn't limit yourself to only one world."  
  
 "That's quite unusual." Percy said, surprising everyone with the fact that he was actually listening.  
  
 "Yeah, it is." George nodded. "But apparently they're also working on producing better medicine for the Muggles so who knows? People's opinions have changed a lot since the war and a lot of them for the better." He grinned. "So anyway, Seamus is working there now. He got married four years ago and divorced quite recently."  
  
 "Divorced?" Lavender sounded aghast, which wasn't an unusual reaction. In the wizarding world people got married and they then normally remained married for life. A divorce was quite rare and normally also looked down upon by society, but there was one thing that the wizarding community disliked even more than divorces and that was a child being born out of wedlock. They really were a rather old-fashioned bunch in that sense.  
  
 "Yeah, according to him his wife was cheating on him left and right. The actual process to get rid of her took nearly a year." George looked disgusted at how Seamus' wife had acted. "He won custody of the kids though which made him incredibly happy despite the high alimony that he had to pay....."  
  
 "Kids?" Ron asked, looking shocked.  
  
 "Yeah, two little twerps." George grinned. "They're twins and three years old like our Freddie here." He smiled and Angelina rolled her eyes at her husband.  
  
 "Sean and Connall are two of the biggest trouble makers around." Angelina said, explaining her actions. "And George here knows that they're going to wreak havock in Hogwarts once they join. Seamus, like any good father is trying to stop him from making his sons into a miny Fred and George. If you two," She pointed to her husband and his twin, "Weren't still around, people would actually think that they're the two of them reincarnated. It's ridiculous how alike they seem at times."  
  
 "Ah....." A unified sound went around and George mock glared at them.  
  
 "And they seem to have inherited their fathers proficiency with making things explode." She continued and they all winced. Two mini-Seamus', now they could see why George was so excited. It spelled trouble all over it.  
  
 A sort of silence fell over the group as they thought over everything that they had just heard.  
  
 "What about Hermione, what's she been up to?" Harry finally asked, the question had been bugging him ever since Kingsley had refused to mention much about her life in the past ten years.  
  
 Everyone grew silent. A hooded look passed through George's eyes and Angelina looked out of the window. Harry wondered what was wrong. Had something bad happened to her?  
  
 "This is going to be difficult." George said with a sigh and Ron exploded.  
  
 "Why is it going to be difficult?" Ron shouted and George looked at him, not even getting riled up. "Why is everyone acting as if she died? Why are you all keeping silent about her?!"  
  
 "She hasn't died Ron. And I never said I was going to keep silent. I'm just saying that this is going to be difficult. Out of all of us and the people we've talked about today, her story is going to be the most difficult for you guys to understand." He said softly as if he were talking to his children and not to them. "She's one of the people who's changed a lot over the past ten years and she knows that she's changed which is why she said she wouldn't come today. She knows that as you are, or rather, as she remembers you, you're not going to like what I have to tell you and she doesn't want to be there when you might say things that you will regret later on."  
  
 "She asked us to ask you to listen to what we have to say and then think about it, she'll come and visit at a later date." Angelina said with a small smile and Ginny noticed that after Ron's outburst, the others had also come back to the living room to listen to what they had to say.  
  
 Harry absently noted that George had gotten a lot more patient over the years. Had it been ten years ago, he would have shouted back at Ron instead of remaining calm like he had just now. Fatherhood suited him well.  
  
 "Where to start?" George asked as he stared into space before beginning. "After the war Hermione left to find her parents, you still remember that, right?" He asked and they all nodded. "Well, she found her parents in Australia and returned their memories. Turns out they weren't really happy with what she had done and they had quite a big falling out. They've only begun talking again recently." He continued. "It's understandable really, considering that she did it against their will and that they were slightly sceptical of magic in the first place, both being quite rational people themselves and by Muggle rationale and science, magic cannot be explained. Even now that they've started talking again, they're still angry and probably will be for quite some time yet."  
  
 They all nodded, Molly and Arthur looking the most sympathetic out of all of them.  
  
 "After that, she returned to England to join you guys at Hogwarts but by that time you had all already been put under the preservation spell although we did not know it at the time. We were all panicking because we couldn't even find you or Hogwarts anymore and it was terrifying." It was the first time any of them had really touched upon the reason that they had been cut off for so long and it was interesting to hear it from the perspective of those on the outside. "First she tried to do anything to help the Ministry solve the case and it was only after she had a break-down that Kingsley sent her away and told her to start living her life again that she started to go back to normal."  
  
 "What do you mean, she had a breakdown?" Came Ginny's question.  
  
 "Back to normal?" Molly followed up.  
  
 George looked around at all of them before his eyes settled on Charlie. Charlie sighed as he realised that George wanted him to explain this.  
  
 "The rejection of her parents and then you guys vanishing broke something in Hermione." Charlie started and they all turned to look at him. "She hadn't really taken any time to think about what had happened and the war; she hadn't even taken the time to sit still and just be happy that she was alive. She was constantly running around doing something and you guys were her support system." He looked at Harry and Ron and they swallowed heavily, they hadn't realised that Hermione had relied on them as they had on her. She had always appeared to be so strong just by herself. "And then you were gone and her parents weren't talking to her any more and people were dead and the trials were happening and people were going to Azkaban. The system was failing and despite Hermione's best efforts she couldn't help with anything. And with only taking three to four hours to sleep each day in an attempt to do as much research to help and find you, she burnt herself out. She collapsed and got brought to St. Mungo's where she was told by Kingsley and the doctors that she wasn't allowed to work anymore as she was clearly going to kill herself if she continued as she had."  
  
 The room was silent at that.  
  
 Bill sighed softly. "It took her several sessions with psychiatrists and being forced to rest by the doctors to come to terms that she simply couldn't always succeed, that sometimes she needed to let others do what had to be done. So she decided to leave and take some time off and actually rest so that she wouldn't hurt herself."  
  
 George took over again. "She then took Beauxbatons up on their offer to complete her NEWTs there, which by the way wasn't what any of us had meant by that, and she left for France. We didn't hear from her for a month or two and when she finally sent an owl, she sounded a lot better, like having a containable amount of work was actually helping, keeping her mind off of the fact that there was still a lot wrong and unfixable out there. Then, after finishing her final year, with top marks by the way,"  
  
 "I think she broke a record." Charlie interjected softly, looking at Bill.  
  
 "She did." Bill nodded in response.  
  
 "She stayed in France, spending a year just relaxing and travelling around the place. She fell in love with Paris, both the Muggle and the Wizarding side and remained there, working odd jobs here and there and refusing to work at the Ministry." George said, smirking slightly towards the end.  
  
 "She refused to work at the Ministry?!" Harry knew that his voice sounded incredulous.  
  
 "Yeah." Charlie grinned sardonically. "She didn't exactly have many good memories associated with Ministries now, did she?"  
  
 "Anyway," George gave his two elder brothers a look, "After that year she co-founded a company and then a year later she got married. She and her husband and family only moved back from France to England two years ago and they just had their fourth child two months ago." George said quickly deciding to make it quick. What did Hermione always say? Ah yes, 'rip it off like a bandaid.'  
  
 "Married?" Ron asked, completely and utterly shocked. It looked like he wasn't really comprehending what had just been said.  
  
 "Four kids?" Ginny looked just as flabbergasted.  
  
 "Yes, she's married with four kids." George said and he heard something that sounded suspiciously like a sob erupting from his mother.  
  
 "She's married?" Ron repeated, now beginning to grow red. Harry looked at his friend and realised that Ron was literally looking like he was about to combust.  
  
 "She got married only three years after we vanished?!" Now he was fuming and George, Bill and Charlie all let out a sigh.  
  
 "Ron, can you please sit down?" Bill asked carefully and his younger brother swung around, glaring at him, fire burning in his eyes.  
  
 "Sit down?! You want me to sit down?!" He shouted. "Do you know what she told me when she decided to put our relationship on hold?" He continued, completely angry now. George decided to cast a quick silencio around them so that the children wouldn't get frightened by all of the shouting. He wondered how badly they would react when they found out who exactly she had ended up marrying.  
  
 "What did she say?" Charlie asked, mainly just to humour Ron. The quicker he got it out of his system, the faster he would hopefully cool down again. Ron tended to be a bit like a grenade in that regard, it took him a bit of time before he exploded, the explosion itself was terrible and horrifying and the aftermath was always bad but it was quick. And he tended to cool down better then too.  
  
 "She told me that she wasn't ready for a long-term commitment yet! That she needed some time to take things slow! That she didn't even want to think about children for at least another ten years! And now she has four fucking children ten years later!" He shouted, the colour of his face growing darker and darker.  
  
 Charlie winced. If Hermione had said that then hearing what Ron had just heard was quite a stab to the heart.  
  
 George looked around to see how others were taking it and saw that Harry looked like all the air had been knocked out of him, in fact he looked like he was going to be sick any moment now. Ginny was pale but her eyes were also angry; he guessed that she was angry at Hermione for Ron's sake who had obviously been waiting for her to come running back into his arms. Lavender looked mutinous, as well as surprised, and was alternating between throwing her glare at them and then at her boyfriend. He guessed that her anger at Ron was quite justified, if the evening was anything to go by then they were a couple and the way he was reacting showcased his attraction to Hermione quite obviously. Most girls didn't exactly like it when their boyfriends were in love with someone else.  
  
 Heck, most guys hated it when their girl- or boyfriends reacted like that.  
  
 The others just looked shocked and surprised, with his mother looking like she had just heard that someone had died. Which he guessed he also understood. Back then, everyone had thought that Harry would end up with Ginny (who were surprisingly not together, he and Charlie and Bill had been quite shocked to find that out) and that Hermione would end up with Ron as a perfect couple. His mother probably saw it as a sort of betrayal on Hermione's part as Ron had obviously been waiting for her.  
  
 The shock and surprise was a bit insulting he thought though, as they had obviously not even considered Hermione even attracting other guys apart from his brother. He decided that he wouldn't add more fuel to the fire and mention the quite short relationships and flings she had had with several guys in France before settling with Draco, it would probably make the situation escalate even more.  
  
 "Ron, people falling in love isn't planned." Bill said in an attempt to calm Ron down. Sadly, it had the reverse effect.  
  
 "Oh, so she fell in love, did she?" He asked angrily. "And she wasn't in love with me?!"  
  
 "Ron, she loves you, just not the way that you loved her back then." Bill said and Fleur just sighed. Her husband really couldn't help but try and be the mediator in such a situation. Regretfully his mediating didn't always have the effect that he intended for it to have.  
  
 Ron obviously just heard the words 'she loves you' and not the parts after that. "Well then why didn't she wait?! I've waited for her!" He exclaimed.  
  
 "How long was she supposed to wait for Ronald?" Charlie interjected, finding it hard to keep quiet when Ron was obviously about to insult Hermione who was like a sister to him. "She wanted to wait for all of you to come back, she nearly killed herself trying to find all of you!" Everyone grew silent at that. "We can't call it anything else. She thought that everyone that she cared about was gone, possibly dead and some part of her, no matter how small, thought that she should follow. Can you really blame her for finally moving on after you were already gone for years?!" He was breathing slightly heavily by now. "And believe you me, she wanted all of you to be there on her wedding day but how long was she supposed to wait for?! You were lucky that the spell broke after ten years, it might have broken after a hundred! Do you honestly expect her to wait that long for you when she doesn't even know whether you will return at all? When she didn't even know whether you were even alive?!" He ranted and Ron deflated.  
  
 "We all thought that you were moving along in the same time that we were. We thought that for you ten years had passed too." Bill said, putting a hand on Charlie's arm to calm his brother. "We've all moved on Ron, that's what we're trying to say."  
  
 "So you gave up on us?" It was Ginny who spat this out, not her brother.  
  
 "No Gin, we didn't give up on you, in fact we were pretty sure you'd be back. Our family does have the tendency to pull through. But would you want us to put our whole lives on hold while we wait for you?" George asked gently.  
  
 "No." She said almost sullenly. Reality was starting to crash down on her. It was horrible and she was starting to feel panicked. She wanted to bury her head in the sand and it would be a decade earlier once more when everything made sense. But she knew that that wouldn't happen and that she couldn't do that. It was terrifying.  
  
 "She fell in love?" Harry asked, this being the first time that he had spoken since the whole conversation had started.  
  
 "Yeah." Suddenly George was finally able to grin and he shared a look with Bill and Charlie that the others didn't understand.  
  
 "Absolutely and completely." Fleur said with a beautiful smile, a faraway look in her eyes.  
  
 "Not sure whether it was head-over-heels or not but she fell in love." Charlie nodded wisely.  
  
 "Nearly took off our heads when we said we wouldn't allow it." George remembered fondly.  
  
 "And with right," Angelina said, looking at her husband with exasperation, "it's not your place to tell her who to love and who to not love."  
  
 "She's been married happily for seven years now." Fleur said, sharing a loving look with her own husband. George's hand snaked its way around Angelina's waist who just sent him a look and Charlie rolled his eyes at his siblings' antics.  
  
 "Who did she get married to?" Harry asked next, feeling like this was the crack point. So far, not one of them had actually mentioned her husband's name and it was beginning to worry him. Did they really think that they wouldn't be able to cope with whomever she had married?  
  
 George sighed and he and the other four exchanged another look.  
  
 "She got married to Draco Malfoy."  
  
 The silence that met their ears was deafening. Nobody moved. Nobody even twitched. Everyone was staring at George as if he had just told them a really bad joke.  
  
 "Wha- you can't mean- Malfoy- Hermione- the ferret- what?!" Ron's sentences were so incoherent that George had to listen closely to understand what he was saying.  
  
 "What?!" Ginny shrieked and George covered his ears.  
  
 "You know that you sometimes resemble a banshee my dear sister?" He asked and winced when she punched him in the arm. Yup, definitely a banshee.  
  
 "Hermione Granger became Hermione Malfoy seven years ago when I gave her away to marry Draco." Charlie said quite clearly and they all turned to look at him.  
  
 "You gave her away to marry the ferret?!" Harry shouted and Charlie sighed in response.  
  
 "Yes, I gave Hermione away because she asked me whether I would mind doing it, which I of course responded with that I would love to do so. Her parents were still refusing to talk to her at the time so she had to ask someone else to give her away." Charlie replied.  
  
 "I don't think that that's the point Harry or Ginny's trying to make Charlie." Fred said rather weakly.  
  
 "Yeah, how about the fact that she married an ex-death eater?!" Ron's voice was still raised.  
  
 "Granger with one of the hottest boys?" Lavender looked affronted.  
  
 "Hottest boys?" Fred turned to look at Lavender with a wrinkled nose.  
  
 "Even I can't deny that Malfoy was good looking." Ginny said with annoyance laced in her voice as she shrugged.  
  
 "Ginny!" Harry looke at his ex-girlfriend in shock.  
  
 "What, it's true." She shrugged once more.  
  
 "And Draco's really quite a decent bloke." Bill said and the others stared at him in disbelief.  
  
 "He likes dragons." Charlie said with a grin, obviously remembering something.  
  
 "He's quite brilliant with spells. Sometimes even helps test some of our merchandise." George added.  
  
 "When did it become Draco?" Percy asked and even he was looking throroughly surprised by the revelation of Hermione, one of the most sensible people around, having married Draco Malfoy of all people. He was perplexed but not as affronted as everyone appeared to be. It wasn't as if he hadn't made some decisions that in hindsight he didn't agree with. It wasn't his place to judge.  
  
 "About the time when Hermione said that she wouldn't give up their relationship to accommodate us." George said.  
  
 "Once you get past his past and his icy public facade, he really is quite nice." Bill said, his wife agreeing with him.  
  
 "You let her marry Malfoy?!" Molly sounded aghast.  
  
 "We're not going to discuss what we have and haven't done." Bill said.  
  
 "Here, she gave us this to give to you so that you can have some idea of what it's like for the two of them." George handed them a bag with several photo albums and something that looked suspiciously like some time.  
  
 "The tape's from us and Seamus. Seamus learned how to use a camera and since then he's been recording videos left and right. Hermione doesn't know that we even still have a copy of that but it'll definitely help you guys see some things that pictures do not show." Charlie added and they all looked at the bag.  
  
 Ron sat down with a huff, his expression furious.  
  
 "Let's look at it then." Harry said, feeling exhaustion wash over him. This was going to be a long night by the looks of it.


	4. The Tapes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What has happened the past ten years comes to light as Harry and the others look through the tapes that George brought them.

 "She's married bloody Malfoy?!" Ron exclaimed for the sixth time within the last ten minutes as Harry attempted to make the video recorder in the Weasley's living room work. Pain streaked through him as he thought about how much he missed Hermione in that moment and how she could have helped him to get the machine working.  
  
 "Yes Ron, she has, according to George anyway." Ginny said, shooting an annoyed look at her brother. She wasn't sure who was receiving the most of her anger at the moment, Ron, for his reaction and the way that it was escalating, George, Bill and Charlie for not telling them until now and then undergoing a tactical retreat in terms of 'the kids have to go to bed so we have to go too' with Charlie tagging along with Bill since the Burrow was apparently already 'full', or whether she should be mad at Hermione for what her friend had done.  
  
 And even then, could she really be mad at her? Could she really be mad at her for not putting her life on hold for them?  
  
 But then again, Ron had waited for her, despite his escapades, and had set his hopes on marrying her one day. She had always looked forward to having Hermione as her actual sister-in-law and not just as her pseudo-sister. She felt betrayed by Hermione marrying their childhood enemy. She didn't understand it, not one bit. Hermione and Malfoy had always hated each other during school, so why would that have changed so quickly in the span of time after they vanished?  
  
 She didn't know how to feel about it. On one hand she genuinly wanted Hermione to be happy but on the other hand she also wanted her to be with Ron because that would make her happier. It was all too confusing.  
  
 "Okay, it's working." Harry said and they all turned around to watch the screen. According to George, Bill and Charlie, the videos would help explain the unprecedented union between Malfoy and Hermione. They all doubted it though. How could some videos (Mr. Weasley was unsurprisingly excited about that) prove to them that she hadn't been put under an Imperius curse by Malfoy?  
  
 "I doubt that this is going to work." Ginny mumbled and they all knew that she wasn't talking about the ancient television that Harry had just managed to get going.  
  
 "Let's just see what George and the others gave us." Arthur said tiredly. He understood that Hermione had maybe not wanted to wait forever for his son to return and despite his dislike for the Malfoys, he knew that Hermione was a bright girl and that she would hardly rush into something like marriage without considerable thought beforehand.  
  
 The screen crackled a bit and Harry threw it a worried glance. They did not need the medieval screen to break down on them right now. And while it made for a wonderful resting place for a cat, generating a worrying amount of heat, the technology wasn't exactly the most modern.  
  
 It prevailed however and flickered to life, buzzing a couple of times to show its displeasure at having to stand around for so long without being used.  
  
 "And now we have the season premiere of the Video Diaries!" They all stared gobsmacked at the screen as Seamus, looking a couple of years older than how they remembered him, did something akin to a happy dance in front of the camera.  
  
 They all looked at each other and the prevalent thought appeared to be 'what the bloody fuck?'.  
  
 "Seriously?" They saw Hermione walk past him to sit down on the sofa, giving him an incredulous look.  
  
 "At least she knows that no man that values his dignity should ever do a dance like that." Fred muttered as he kept his eyes on the screen.  
  
 "You're calling it the video diaries?" Malfoy's drawl reached their ears and they slowly watched him cross the screen to sit down comfortably next to Hermione, strapping an arm around her shoulder.  
  
 "What are you even doing here?" Seamus turned around and asked him.  
  
 "I got told that we are apparently doing some sort of video thing to show the others once they get back what has happened here.... so here I am." He gestured with his hands the show that he was there and they could see Hermione roll her eyes, an affectionate smile quirking at the corners of her lips.  
  
 "We don't want to give them a heart attack!" Seamus exclaimed, his thick Irish accent growing even thicker. "We want to ease them into it, slowly, like a calf's birth!"   
  
 "A what?" They all felt their eyes pop out as Goyle entered the scene as well.  
  
 "You need a job." Malfoy declared flatly.  
  
 "I agree, you've been travelling around for too long, you've seen too many things." Hermione nodded sagely.  
  
 "He's Irish." Malfoy stated as if that explained the madness that was Seamus Finnigan. Somehow, it did.  
  
 "Well, by now they've probably had a heart attack so we can forgo that idea!" Seamus threw up his hands in defeat and Malfoy just smirked in amusement as Goyle sat down comfortably in the chair next to the sofa.  
  
 "What the heck is going on here?" Fred questioned once more as he looked at the others before turning to look back at the screen.  
  
 "Well....." Seamus turned around again to face the camera, "As you lot can see by now, Hermione and I have become friends with Malfoy and Goyle, although we call them Draco and Greg nowadays." Goyle snorted in the background. Seamus sent him an annoyed look. "Well, Malfoy and Hermione are more than just friends at the moment but we'll get into the whats and wheres of that later, first we have to let you recover from the first heart attack. Bye!" And with that the screen grew black.  
  
 "What the bleedin' hell was that?!" Ron looked absolutely aghast and even Harry felt shocked when he thought he couldn't get anymore shocked than he already was. Seamus and Goyle were also in the mix? And they were all friends?  
  
 The screen crackled to life once more.  
  
 "Ah....." Seamus' face appeared very close to the screen. "It's working again!" He exclaimed happily and sighs were heard from behind him. "At least I can work it." He retorted and a chuckle was heard along with some mumblings. "I heard that!" Seamus said before stepping back from the camera.  
  
 "Now, as you already established in the last video log, these tapes are going to be a long string of heart attacks for you, so sit back and enjoy the ride." Seamus grinned. "Now, having had a precious few seconds to think back on the last video, which I admit was a disasterous way start to this whole project, we bombard you with the next set of information. Oh and, sit tight, you may not be interested in all of the information but these tapes are not going to be sent only to the most noble friends of Hermione and I but also to the wonderful snakes of Slytherin." His hand gestures were grand.  
  
 "Maybe he should become a poet." Draco murmered in the background.  
  
 "Or an actor." Goyle agreed. Seamus ignored them.  
  
 "So, on to subject number one and two, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, please present your cases to the people behind the screen." He grinned as he pointed back at the camera.  
  
 "Or rather a lawyer?" Draco remarked and Hermione thrust her elbow into his side as Goyle snorted in amusement. Seamus threw the two of them a knowing grin.  
  
 "Man of all trades, at your service." He gave a mock bow.  
  
 "Seamus....." Hermione laughed.  
  
 "Alright, alright. Go ahead and explain to the poor sods in front of the screen on the other side that you have not lost your mind."  Seamus grinned once more before settling down next to Goyle.  
  
 "Well, Harry, Ron, Ginny and all of the Weasley family that are watching this..... and anyone else for that matter, none of us here have gone crazy. We can firmly assure you have that." She smiled warmly as Draco rolled his eyes. "We're planning on doing these 'video logs' once a year to keep you guys up to date with what has happened in our life so that when you get back you know what has happened to us. Of course, we've been writing letters as well, letters that haven't seemed to reach you, that you'll hopefully get to read one day."  
  
 "She finds the conventional 'sitting down and telling people how her life has gone at a reunion' too mundane." Draco said with a smirk.  
  
 "Oh shush." She said, but was smiling none-the-less.  
  
 "Anyway....." Seamus rolled his eyes motioning for them to get a move on.  
  
 "So, I attended Beauxbatons after the war to finish my schooling; you all know that I would never be happy with an unfinished education and without a diploma in my pocket." Hermione grinned at the camera. "Incidentally, Draco here decided to also attend Beauxbatons, seeing as his family has properties in France."  
  
 "And because I wanted to get away from all those annoying reporters, especially Rita Skeeter." They all grimaced along with him at the dreaded woman's name.  
  
 "It's been three years since we last saw any of you by the way." Goyle decided to fill them in while Seamus began a conversation of gestures with Hermione and Draco, obviously they were trying to decide whether or not to mention something or the other. "We all graduated roughly two years ago. As you just heard, Hermione and Draco went to Beauxbatons and graduated from there. Seamus went to the US to finish off his education there. He went to the New York Academy for the Magically Talented, abbreviated NYAMT by us and more commonly referred to as Nyamt. Or the cat college. Both fit really. It annoys the hell out of him."  
  
 "Oi!" Was Seamus' reply before he turned back to his silent conversation with Hermione and Draco.  
  
 "I was in exile up until two months ago, of which I was in Bulgaria for one year, finishing off my education at Durmstrang Academy. Suprisingly they decided to let me join the school." He said rather off-handedly, the topic seemingly having been one he had finished thinking about a long time ago.  
  
 "Don't put yourself down Greg, you are quite an accomplished wizard." Hermione said, stunning all those who were watching the video in fascination.  
  
 "I agree." Seamus shouted.  
  
 "I am not saying 'me three'." Draco shook his head. "No way." Hermione, Seamus and Goyle chortled at his expense but he merely rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. Me three." He sighed as if it had been a great burden to say so while Seamus cheered.  
  
 Hermione and Goyle merely rolled their eyes at their behaviour.  
  
 "So anyway, after graduating, Hermione decided to take it easy for a while, running away and hiding from the Ministry in the process." Goyle looked gravely serious and the only thing that gave him away was the strange twinkle of amusement in his eyes.  
  
 Harry felt gobsmacked. This was Goyle, Gregory Goyle, one of the dumbest sidekicks that he had ever met, having an intelligent and actually quite interesting commentary. Hell had officially frozen over.  
  
 Or maybe he had been blinded by what he thought that Malfoy's sidekicks had been. It was a thought that he never thought would cross his mind.  
  
 "I wasn't running away!" Hermione exclaimed in indignation.  
  
 "No, you were just barring your windows so that no Ministry owl could enter your appartment and bring you more job offers that you were going to refuse anyway." Draco responded with a smirk and she hit his arm lightly.  
  
 "I just don't fancy working for the Ministry." Hermione said. "And to those of you wondering whether I am insane since I have been babbling about working at the Ministry for the rights of all for as long as we can all remember, no I am not. It's just that I have no fancy to listen to laws being made that mean nothing anyway and to watching a system that has not shown any signs of improving their ways anyway." She said rather resolutely. "And anway, I already have a job now so I don't have to worry about money. Actually, Harry and Ron, you guys will probably notice it the next time you visit Gringrotts, but the Ministry all paid us quite a hefty sum for our contributions during the war, so you probably don't have to work for the rest of your lives if you use the money carefully."  
  
 Harry and Ron both nodded at each other to check their bank accounts at Gringrotts as soon as humanly possible then. They wanted to know just how much a 'hefty' sum entailed.  
  
 "So after a year of deciding to take it easy, the former brain of Hogwarts decided to start up a brand new potions company with the man sitting next to her right now." Goyle continued with his commentary.  
  
 "We decided to call it Stellar Potions." Draco said.  
  
 "Yeah, since Malfoy Potions or Granger Potions or any other combination of the two would cause a world wide panic in the Wizarding World." Hermione quipped.  
  
 "And you would have had Rita Skeeter knocking down your door." Seamus said, the response of which was them all shuddering as they thought of the annoying and lying reporter.  
  
 Harry wondered absently how she had managed to survive the war. Surely she had made enough enemies throughout the years?  
  
 "I started my work as an auror in the Ministry two months ago and Seamus is still intent on travelling around the globe to 'find himself and the meaning of life'." Goyle said sarcastically.  
  
 "Oi! The girls love it when you say something romantic like that!" Seamus replied indignantly.  
  
 "Well anyway, despite our work lives, which are a lot less interesting than most people believe, we shall move on to the actual news that we wish to impart on you today." Goyle rounded off.  
  
 "You should have become a news reporter, you would have been bloody brilliant." Seamus said and Hermione and Draco nodded in agreement.  
  
 Goyle simply shrugged and indicated for them to finally state their news and be done with it.  
  
 "So..... well..... I think there's really no other way to put this," Hermione cast a brief glance at Draco who nodded in encouragement, "But, Draco and I are engaged to be married next month." Her face was glowing with happiness and her eyes were shining despite the worry that was clouding them.  
  
 "Da da daa....." Seamus said and grinned at the screen. "Until next time kiddos!" And with that the screen turned black on the amused expressions of Hermione, Draco and Goyle.  
  
 "What....." But Ginny's voice was cut off as the screen flickered to life once more.  
  
 "Now, I am sure you are all wondering why I am looking so handsome in a suit today," Seamus said with a grin, obviously walking somewhere with the camera that was currently pointing at him, "But I have decided to chronicle the most mind-blowing wedding in history." Then he grinned. "And the groom and bride don't even know about it yet."  
  
 "Talking to yourself again Finnigan?" Came a voice and the camera spun around to face the sneering face of someone they did not recognise.  
  
 "And that charming young twerp over there is Draco's cousin, Abraxas McDonnall, from his father's side. Avoid him at all costs if possible." Seamus said sarcastically as he brushed past the young boy that he obviously didn't like.  
  
 "But anyway, I am currently on my way to see the groom, so get ready guys!" He announced happily while the camera took in the bright corridor that he was currently walking down. "And..... here we are!" Seamus exclaimed happily and opened the door..... to a pacing Draco Malfoy and a bored looking Goyle.  
  
 Seamus, and the camera, stopped for a couple of seconds before venturing further into the room. "What are you doing?" Seamus asked and Draco looked up briefly, glared slightly at the camera and then resumed with his pacing.  
  
 "He's nervous." Goyle decided to fill in for them.  
  
 "I am not nervous!" Draco exclaimed heatedly before resuming with his pacing once more.  
  
 "No, you've just been pacing up and down that poor stretch of carpet for the last fifteen minutes by now." Goyle remarked calmly.  
  
 "Well how would you feel if you were marrying the singularly most beautiful and absolutely amazing and intelligent person you know. Who you happen to be head over heels in love with?!" He asked, gesturing wildly.  
  
 "Oh god, he's cracked." Seamus remarked.  
  
 "Yeah, we need to do damage control, he's supposed to be going up that aisle to take his place in five minutes." Goyle informed Seamus.  
  
 "Okay..... then let's do it!" And the camera blacked briefly before flickering back to life a second later.  
  
 "And now we are standing here in the most wonderful of all places..... the middle of a church!" Seamus said excitedly and in the corner of the screen they could see Goyle rolling his eyes. The whole church grew quiet then however as Hermione stepped through the doors, accompanied by Charlie who was giving her away and two girls behind her who were her bridesmaids.  
  
 Everyone's breaths caught in their necks as they watched Hermione walk down the aisle slowly to a beautifuly melody. She was a vision in white, absolutely beautiful.  
  
 Her hair was tied up in an elaborate design with a few stray strands escaping to dance around her face. Her eyes were glowing with a warmth that they had never seen in there before. The dress twirled around her, looking like a piece of art as it hugged all the right places. It looked old, yet also new and it fit Hermione's personality to the 't'. Whoever had gotten her dressed was a bloody genius they all decided, as Hermione truly did look earth-shatteringly stunning.  
  
 The camera swung around to capture the look on the groom's face and he looked as if he had been put underneath a spell.  
  
 "He is sooo whipped." Seamus muttered to Goyle.  
  
 "Yup." The other man simply replied. There really was nothing more to say about it.  
  
 When Hermione finally reached the end of the aisle to take her place next to her soon-to-be-husband, she smiled up at him and he smiled back down at her, the most genuine smile that they had ever seen him sport.  
  
 No words had to be exchanged in that moment, the love for the other burning brightly in their eyes.  
  
 The ceremony went on and was over surprisingly quick, considering that this was a Malfoy marriage. However, the vows were exchanged and after they had left the church with a number of cheers following them, the screen briefly went black once more before flickering back to life to focus on a scene at the party after the wedding.  
  
 A traditional Irish jig filled the air and they all watched as Seamus grinned over at the person who was holding the camera from what looked like a radio but obviously wasn't. The camera was pointing at the dance floor where Hermione was getting whisked around by Draco, both of them laughing happily as they easily fell into the steps of the jig, obviously knowing it.  
  
 The pure, unadultered joy that was present on their faces and the faces of the people around them struck a chord in Harry's heart. He watched in wonder as Hermione danced with Lucius while Draco danced with Narcissa before dancing with Seamus and then Goyle. She mainly danced with only Draco though and even when they weren't right next to each other, their eyes always sought out the other and they shared a smile, a look of love.  
  
 This was what he had been wishing for ever since the war ended. No..... he had been wishing for a scene filled with such happiness even long before that. He cast a brief glance at Ginny and wondered if they would ever be able to make what they had shared work out once more as he knew that no one else would ever stir the same emotions and feelings within his heart that Ginny did.  
  
 George, Bill and Charlie were also at the reception, Fleur and what he presumed to be Victoire and Dominique flitting around as well. They looked just as happy as everyone else and he saw them all congratulate the newly wed couple.  
  
 It was strange for them, watching this scene that had happened seven years ago. For them the wounds of the war were still fresh, so to see Hermione getting married to Draco, Seamus getting drunk with Goyle, Lucius Malfoy having a civil conversation with Charlie and Fleur talking animatedly with Narcissa was something that was almost other-wordly. It was almost as if they were watching a show on the television, it was hard to register it as something that was real.  
  
 And all the while several people's hearts were breaking apart on the inside.  
  
 The scene on the screen changed again and they all blinked a couple of times in surprise as they saw a very pregnant Hermione sitting on the couch with her feet up as Draco sat next to her rubbing her back. Seamus was practically bouncing up and down in front of the camera as he set it up while Goyle just calmly continued sipping his tea.  
  
 "Okay, first of all, we want to all apologise for not making a video last year." Seamus said quickly. "We were all kind of busy, Hermione and Draco here were concentrating on getting their company running, I had just started working again,"  
  
 "In our company." Draco added with a smirk.  
  
 Seamus grinned, "Yeah, and Goyle was following this group of death eaters for most of the year before catching them and putting them behind bars." He grinned at Goyle who just nodded at the screen.  
  
 "Other than that, I've been in and out of relationships, and Greg here's decided to stay single." Seamus shot his friend a mock glare. "And no, you cannot use the excuse of being busy with moving and work anymore since your move back to England was a whole year ago!"  
  
 Goyle just snorted and rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to his tea. Seamus sighed heavily as if he was much older than he actually was.  
  
 "And as you can see, the infuriatingly happy couple behind me are getting another blessing in the form of their first child." He pointed behind him and Draco chuckled as Hermione sent him a small glare.  
  
 "You try and call swollen feet and a stomach three times its normal size a blessing again Seamus Finnigan and you will find yourself drawn and quartered by me personally." She responded huffily.  
  
 "It's a blessing." Seamus grinned as he looked over his shoulder at Hermione and she just rolled her eyes as the corners of her mouth twitched upwards to form a smile. The rest of the video was spent telling them about what had happened in the previous two years, not only to them but to the world in general.  
  
 The next video sported another pregnant Hermione and a small mini-Draco on the actual Draco's knees while Seamus sported an engagement ring and spent half of the video talking about how wonderful his wife to be was. Goyle was happily watching the occurings in front of him and delivered his input here and there.  
  
 The next tape showed Seamus getting married in a church to a beautiful woman in white with Draco and Goyle as his best men while Hermione filmed the scenes from the crowd. It was the happiest that they had ever seen Seamus and they had to admit that it felt heart-warming to see their friends so content.  
  
 A year after the last report found Hermione laughing as Draco attempted to get their son to sit still while she held her daughter close while Seamus talked about his own bundle of joy that was on the way. His wife was surprisingly absent though. Those were the only major news that year along with Goyle having some long-term assignments in Germany and Kingsley being voted to remain in office as the Minister of Magic. Draco's and Hermione's company was doing well with Seamus having risen through the ranks to be their deputy - apparently he was the only one that could deal with them, not exactly much of a surprise there seeing as he obviously knew both of them well - and Goyle mentioned a small increase in suspicious activity from death eaters but that was all.  
  
 The first thing they saw in the next tape was Seamus holding his just under a year old twins right in front of the camera and talking proudly about them. His wife was absent once more. Hermione and Draco had had another child, a boy, and Goyle was apparently in a relationship for the first time in ages, according to the others at least. Scorpius and Cassiopeia ran and crawled all around the place, depending on how they felt and thoroughly enjoyed evading the attempts of their parents to calm them down. In it Hermione also mentioned that she, Draco and their family would be moving back to England that year and also talked a bit about expanding their company.  
  
 The next video, and as it also turned out to be, the last one, was from the previous year. In it they found the Malfoys in good spirits, they appeared to be truly happy with what they had. Goyle was also happy and Hermione, Draco and Seamus were sure that he would propose to his girlfriend soon. Seamus on the other hand looked more haggard. It turned out that he was filing for a divorce with his wife and planning on winning the complete custody over the two year old twins. The others all seemed certain that he would.  
  
 The videos stopped there and the screen grew black a final time. Harry looked over at the other, somewhat smaller tapes and decided that now was not the time to pour even more salt into the wounds that were beginning to open up in some of their hearts. They all sat in silence for a couple of seconds before Ron got up, pushed the chair he had been sitting on backwards harshly, causing it to fall down with a crash as he stomped out into the cold snow outside of the Burrow. Harry sighed and got up to follow him, he had a feeling that Ron would need someone to lean onto tonight and that it wouldn't be Lavender who was still sitting in her chair looking quite distraught herself.  
  
 Everyone's worlds seemed to be falling apart more and more.  
  
 After the two of them left Ginny was the first to get up and move. She walked over slowly to the box containing everything that Hermione and the others had given George. As the others continued to be immersed in their own thoughts, she picked a random photo album and opened the cover to look at the first page. On it was a picture of Hermione and Draco.  
  
 Underneath it read:  
  
  _They don't know that I took this picture but I think that it's one of the best I've managed to get._  
  
 She recognised the handwriting as Seamus' and looked at the picture as a lump began to form in her throat. Hermione was sitting next to Draco on a couch of some sort, a fire flickering to the left of them. Hermione was leaning onto Draco's shoulders as he had his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. Both were sleeping and a book lay on her lap as his other hand held another. They looked serene and at peace, almost as if everything was alright in the world.  
  
 They fit together perfectly, as if they were made for each other.  
  
 A small tear slipped down Ginny's cheek and fell down onto the paper as she looked at the best friend that she didn't know whether or not she recognised her any more.   
  
 Ten years really were a long time to lose.


	5. Returning to Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Harry, Ginny and Ron travel back to Hogwarts after their Christmas holidays they are met by some unexpected people and revelations.

 The mood in the carriage was somber and downcast as the Hogwarts Express sped back to the castle after the New Year. All of the inhabitants were lost deep in their thoughts, which were occupied by the things that they had learnt of over the holidays.  
  
 Ron was flat out refusing to talk to anyone, let alone even look at them. He was angry, but in a way that he had never been before. Not only was he angry at Hermione, which was understandable since she had basically fallen in love with and married his greatest enemy, but he was also angry at himself for letting Hermione go, because in a sense, that was what he had done. He had agreed to break off their relationship before she left to find her parents while thinking of all the experiences he would be able to get before getting back together with her and settling down in the way that he had always dreamed of. But by letting her go, he had also given her permission in a way to do exactly what he had done himself, which was to broaden their horizons and look at other people besides each other.  
  
 He now wondered what would have happened if he had disagreed, if he had refused to break it off and had told her that he would wait for her no matter how long she took. Would she have waited for him, just as he had waited for her without realising it until it was too late? Would she still be in love with him then, knowing that he was waiting for her no matter what?  
  
 It was this sense of doubt in himself and the whole situation that made him so angry. He had thought he was past the whole self-depreciation and doubting stage but it seemed that he hadn't moved on at all. He was still stuck exactly where he had been his whole life and it annoyed the living daylights out of him.  
  
 And after thinking about it (and many long walks in the cold snow, as well as some evenings where he and Harry had imbibed in some butterbeer and really actually talked for the first time since the war) he had realised that he might have acted the same way as Hermione had, had he found someone that he loved more than her. He still vaguely remembered something that Hermione had told him once upon a time and now that he thought about it, she might have been subtly hinting at the fact that she didn't love him that way anymore. It went something like this: _If you have to choose between two people that you are in love with, choose the second because, how could you have fallen in love with them if you still loved the first equally?_  
  
 It had been something that one of her aunts had told her when she was small, as it had been the case for her. And while it made sense on a logical level, it did not make sense for his heart. It was painful, pure and simple, that she had moved one when he hadn't.  
  
 But he was absolutely and most certifiably mad at Malfoy. It was probably a good decision on Hermione's part to give them some time to get accustomed to the current state of affairs because if his mood two weeks after finding out was still as bad as it currently was, then he would most definitely have said many things that he would have regretted later on.  
  
 And so he stared out of the window, watching the countryside streak by, lost in the memories of years past when the 'golden-trio' had still been together in one carriage on the journey back to Hogwarts.  
  
 Nostalgia swept over him as he remembered all of the good times. Although, he snorted mentally as he thought about it, they weren't as good as Harry sometimes made them out to be. A lot of the time they were either chased and someone was trying to kill them or they were waiting for someone to kill them.  
  
 It made sense that Hermione had wanted to leave all of that behind.  
  
 Harry on the other hand was sitting there in a slightly more awkward silence. He didn't really know what to think, even after two weeks. Up until now he had been concentrating on trying to keep Ron calm but now that Ron seemed to be doing exactly that he himself was being left to his own devices, to his own thoughts.  
  
 And those thoughts weren't necessarily ones that he wanted to have.  
  
 Ginny and Harry sighed simultaneously as they took in the scene of their dejected brother and best friend. He was moping, and he was taking it to a new extreme and over the top of his head their eyes caught and a look of understanding passed between them before they both turned away quickly feeling quite awkward.  
  
 The issues between them had remained unresolved, even after the Christmas holidays where they had spent so much time together, although Ginny was nearly always with her new nephews and nieces so that she could get to know them while Harry spent more time trying to get Ron back onto his feet.  
  
 And Lavender..... well Lavender had been acting somewhat peculiar ever since she had found out about Hermione's marriage to Draco Malfoy. Harry couldn't be quite sure whether she was happy that his other best friend was basically 'out of the picture' in terms of her and Ron's relationship but then again she had also acted in an almost jealous manner towards the former bookworm of Gryffindor. He didn't want to imagine what being in her place would be like.  
  
 She was also no longer in the compartment any more after she had stormed out of it in what he and Ginny thought to be quite a scene. Especially considering that her screams were probably heard at both ends of the train, if not even all the way back in London.  
  
 Maybe even in Australia.  
  
_"Ron, come on sweetheart....." Lavender whined as she stared at the man next to her that was ignoring her with all that he had. Or maybe he simply wasn't able to work up the energy to pay attention to her because he actually didn't care._  
  
_The thought cut her deeply._  
  
_"Ron....." Her voice was beginning to gain an edge. He couldn't just ignore her like he had up until now, it was wrong! Harry and Ginny looked at each other knowingly, they had both seen this argument a long time coming._  
  
_Seconds ticked by and Ron still didn't respond. The look in Lavender's eyes grew harder and anger coloured her cheeks._  
  
_"Ronald Weasley!" She yelled and Ginny and Harry (plus probably everyone in the compartments near them) flinched at the sound of her shrill voice. Ron merely turned his head to face her, his eyes still dull._  
  
_"You know, for someone who's apparently supposed to be my boyfriend, you're awfully still in love with a woman that left you ages ago!" She shouted at him and something churned in the depths of his eyes but he still didn't respond._  
  
_"You bastard!" Lavender's voice appeared to grow even louder, something that Harry and Ginny had thought to be impossible. "You have been behaving like shit ever since these holidays started you bloody idiot!" Anger pooled in her eyes, as well as tears and Ginny and Harry looked at the door, out of the window, anywhere but Lavender and Ron really wondering whether they could still make a quick tactical get away._  
  
_"And quite frankly I've had enough of it!" Her voice screamed even louder. "We're through!" And with that she stormed out of the compartment, banging the door shut behind her with a clash that echoed down the coridor for minutes after she was gone._  
  
_None of them heard her sobs as she sank to the floor in the bathroom of the train._  
  
 They had all ignored that rather dramatic break up after that and decided to instead continue focusing on the countryside that streaked past them as they sped onwards to Hogwarts.  
  
 The door creaked open and Harry and Ginny turned to face whoever was entering. If it was Lavender coming to apologise, well then they would be making their exit rather quickly, neither of them had any desire to witness another scene like the one that had taken place barely an hour ago.  
  
 To their intense surprise, the head of Blaise Zabini poked its way into the compartment, looked around for a couple of seconds, darted back out again, then back in as he inspected them all with a critical eye before then promptly pushing the door open to let him, Luna and Pansy into the compartment before shutting the door again.  
  
 "Hey." He said as he plopped himself down on the bench next to Ron, throwing the latter a curious look.  
  
 "Don't you look morbid." He stated as he poked Ron's cheek experimentally, the other just swatting his hand away, not reacting to him in the way that he had expected.  
  
 "What's wrong with him?" He asked as Luna turned to face with the other two. Blaise huffed as his question was ignored.  
  
 "Hello Harry, Ginny, Ron." Luna nodded at each of them with a dreamy expression on her face before settling down next to Blaise who proceeded to sling an arm around her shoulder and smile at her, flashing his teeth, his former brief annoyance quickly forgotten.  
  
 Pansy merely trudged over to the seat between Harry and the window and didn't acknowledge any of them, instead choosing to focus, much like Ron, on the passing scenes.  
  
 "Blaise." Harry nodded at the Slytherin. When the year had started Blaise Zabini had been one of the total of five Slytherins from their year to return to school, some of the others having fled or having been forced into exile with their families due to their actions during the war. The Italian best friend of Malfoy however had remained surprisingly neutral during the war and continued to remain amicable with the other houses after he returned, retaining the laid back attitude that he had sported even before the war.  
  
 It was probably why there hadn't been a lot of resistance from anyone to his becoming the Head Boy. He was pretty well liked by most people in the school.  
  
 What had come as an even bigger surprise however was him asking out Luna and possibly even more surprising was her agreeing to go out on a date with him. That one date had then turned into several dates and an exclusive relationship with the other.  
  
 And due to his relationship with Luna, he had also come into contact a lot with Ginny. After Hermione had left, Luna was the closest female friend that Ginny had and whenever they shared classes or outside of them the two of them were seen together. It was due to this that Harry and Ron had formed a rather tentative relationship with the Slytherin, finding out over time that he was actually not that bad to be around.  
  
 They hadn't spoken as much with Pansy though. Harry would be the first to admit that he had been quite surprised when Pansy had come up to him in the second week back at Hogwarts and apologised for how she had acted during the final battle and for her suggestion to simply hand him over to Voldemort. Harry had seen that she had been truly contrite and had thus forgiven her. Ginny and Ron on the other hand were of a completely different opinion. Ginny didn't like Pansy much, feeling quite possessive over him and therefore not liking it when any other single girls were near him, even though he didn't know that this was one of the reasons that she disliked the other girl. Luna was the exception because she was simply Luna and now she was no longer single, therefore eliminating that problem. Ron simply thought that Harry was forgiving her too easily but had grudgingly come to bear her since she and Blaise were practically best friends and always together now that Malfoy and the rest of their clique was gone.  
  
 "I'm guessing you also watched some tapes?" Blaise asked rather conversationally after a couple of minutes of silence, causing Ginny's and Harry's heads to snap up with an impressive speed.  
  
 "Tapes?" Harry asked, feeling slightly confused. He couldn't possibly mean the exact same tapes that they had watched, could he?  
  
 "Yeah, you know the ones that show my best friend being the first to get hitched out of all of us." Blaise said and Luna nodded.  
  
 "I knew that they would get together at some point." Luna said, her voice still bearing that ethereal quality. "They had so many Nargles floating around them."  
  
 Blaise nodded in agreement. "Yup, there always were a lot of them flying around, especially when they were arguing." Harry took a moment to look at Blaise incredulously. Here was one of the main reasons why not one of them had a problem with Blaise and Luna being together. The Slytherin Italian was just as nuts as Luna. It was how they had first started talking after all, when he had started a debate with her on the most likely nesting places of Crumplehorned Snorkacks.  
  
 That man had as many cracks in his bowl as Luna had. If not more so. It was completely and utterly baffling.  
  
 Ginny shook their head at them. "Well you two were the only two. No one else saw it coming."  
  
 "Is that why.....?" Harry gestured at Pansy who was staring listlessly out of the window.  
  
 "Yeah." Blaise nodded and then sighed. Blaise shifted a bit to get more comfortable. "It was strange really. I got the tapes through the owl post from Greg. You won't believe how surprised I was to hear from him." Blaise sighed. "Luna was staying at mine and Pansy was there visiting us and being the curious fellow that I was, I looked at them immediately of course."  
  
 Harry rolled his eyes and Ginny snorted, Blaise really could be dramatic at times. His narrations were often hilarious to listen to and Harry had wondered more than once how he and someone like Malfoy could be anything even akin to friends.  
  
 "So imagine our surprise when it contained a nice message in the form of videos of how my best mate was doing. And he got bloody married before any of us!" He threw his hands up into the air, echoing a gesture of despair. "We always thought that if we had the choice of whom to marry, then he would be the eternal bachelor, maybe get a son so that his line is continued, but never actually marry or wait until he was past his prime time!" Blaise was getting worked up again and to be perfectly honest it was amusing to watch.  
  
 "And not only that, he got married to one of your best friends, who might I say, has turned out rather well." He grinned mischieviously and Harry shot him a pointed look. "What? Don't look at me like that."  
  
 "Might I remind you that you are already in a relationship." Ginny decided to point out.  
  
 "Yes, and she is the most wonderful woman anyone could ever be in a relationship with." He looked down at Luna and the two shared a smile and a quick kiss. "That doesn't mean however that I cannot appreciate a beauty when I see one." Blaise winked and the others rolled their eyes.  
  
 Luna merely chuckled.  
  
 "Well, at least now I don't have to worry about how he'll take the whole thing with me and Luna." Blaise looked happy at that thought.  
  
 "Why do you think he'll take it well? For all we know he could still be the exact same ass that he was in school." Ginny stated.  
  
 "Well....." Blaise made himself more comfortable and smirked at them, "First off, he was never really that much of an ass, he just did it most of the time to uphold the reputation that he and his family had."  
  
 "My left butt cheek he wasn't." Ginny said sarcastically.  
  
 "Okay, maybe he did find some kind of pleasure in annoying the crap out of you but come on, you have to admit that annoying you guys is pretty fun." Blaise shot them a cheeky grin.  
  
 Ginny merely sent him back a look that was self-explanatory.  
  
 Blaise pointedly ignored that very look. "Secondly, he's married not only a Gryffindor, which believe me would have sent him into a state of shock at the mere suggestion while we were at school, but someone who's also a Muggle-born witch. Those two facts by themselves already show that he has managed to finally distance himself from those stupid pureblood ideals that were ingrained into him. Which leads me onto number three, he married the one woman who wouldn't take his shit. Which I guess I should kind of have seen coming as she was the only one who didn't fall at his feet and actually stood up to him. And they supposedly hated one another at school."  
  
 He nodded to himself, seemingly satisfied with his answer up until now.  
  
 "And then last but not least, he has four children." Blaise rounded off his argument with that statement.  
  
 "And why is the fact that he has four children so important?" Ginny asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
 "Because it means that a) he is not having children merely to ensure his line of succession because then he would have stopped after the first and that b) he has overcome his fear of being a terrible father which means that he isn't holding onto the former beliefs of how children in the Malfoy family should be educated. All of these show that he wouldn't mind me dating Luna here although he might still be a bit surprised." Blaise replied.  
  
 "So you've just accepted that the two of them are together now without any problems?" Harry asked, the question having bugged him since the beginning. He found it difficult to believe that Blaise, as a true Slytherin and Malfoy's best friend, would just accept the union without the blink of an eye.  
  
 "Of course I do." Blaise declared emphatically. "He looked the happiest that I have ever seen him on those videos and if Granger's the one who makes him the happiest man on earth and he is the one to make her the happiest woman on earth, then who am I to question it?" Blaise shrugged his shoulders towards the end. "And to be perfectly honest, she is the only who would be able to deal with him. The two of them are so stubborn that they both will have to have made compromises at some points and learned to actually try and get along if they wanted to make their relationship work even before getting married. And on top of that she's intelligent, willful and compassionate. If I look at it now, I can see why they are perfect for one another."  
  
 Harry looked at the Slytherin in surprise. He hadn't really thought about it that way. It was true though, Malfoy was obviously making Hermione happy and as one of her best friends, who was he to question that happiness? He shot a look over at Ron who had his fists clenched tightly but was still staring out of the window rather obstinately. While it may only take him some time to come around to the idea of Malfoy and Hermione together and happy, it would probably to Ron a lot longer, seeing as the lingering feelings he had for Hermione were still very much present.  
  
 He also looked over at Pansy and saw that she was sitting in a similar position to Ron, her mouth drawn and her eyes peering out of the window, ignoring all that went on around her.  
  
 Blaise caught the direction that his eyes were travelling in and sighed. "She probably reacted in a similar way to Weasley over here." He said, Ron and Pansy completely ignoring him. "She's been in love with him for as long as I can remember and seeing him married to another woman, and that woman being the one that he supposedly hated for years kind of hit her more than just a bit hard."  
  
 "Then she probably did react in a similar manner." Harry noted, looking over at the two downcast figures. While on one hand he would love to console them, on the other hand he really wished that they would come to terms with it a bit quicker so that they could start attempting to get their lives back into their natural orders. All of this moping really wasn't healthy for the soul and it was starting to affect everyone around them as well.  
  
 The rest of the journey was spent in comfortable chatter as Harry and Ginny told Blaise and Luna about their holidays and vice versa. Luna had spent all of the holidays with Blaise as her father had died four years ago. She didn't talk about it much though and Harry noticed the way that Blaise's arm around her tightened slightly as a comforting gesture when she mentioned her father. It was obvious that she hadn't really come to terms with her father's death yet. He imagined that it would probably be pretty hard on her as having your father dying without you being there to even say goodbye would take quite a toll on the soul.  
  
 So they quickly skipped over that topic and went on to discuss the happier memories of this holiday which had been far more melancholy than most. Pansy had joined them on Christmas Eve, her parents having fled to Europe to escape exile after the war. She had no idea where they were and her younger sister had left to stay with some of her friends leaving her all alone in the big house that she had once called home.  
  
 Two days later they had watched the videos and since then Pansy had been nearly inconsolable, the only time when her spirits had apparently lifted was during New Year's where she had joined in the celebrities and watched Blaise and Luna set fireworks off into the sky.  
  
 Blaise's mother hadn't been home either so it had just been the three of them to spend the holidays together. Apparently his mother had married husband number fifteen a short while back which was why she was still away on her honeymoon. According to Blaise she had only been on husband number seven when he had gone back to Hogwarts ten years ago.  
  
 It was then that Harry really realised how much they had lost over the past ten years during which they had been gone. They had potentially lost a best friend who had moved on and gotten married with kids to a man they had once seen as an enemy, family members had grown up and settled down, changing in the process, others had passed away or vanished off of the map and the whole world around them had moved on.  
  
 Neither Luna, nor Blaise, nor Pansy really had their parents any more. It was a horrifying thought.  
  
 Ten years really were a long time.  
  
 "Are you guys coming?" Ginny looked back at Pansy and Ron who were still sitting at the window despite the fact that they had already arrived at Hogwarts.  
  
 "Yeah." Ron sighed. Pansy merely nodded.  
  
 Ginny let out a weary sigh before following Harry, Blaise and Luna down the corridor to get off of the train.  
  
 "I'm sorry for your loss." Ron said as he stood up, cracking some joints as he was feeling pretty stiff and holding out his hand to help Pansy up.  
  
 "Same here." Pansy sent him a sad smile and a look of understanding passed between them as he helped her up. "Thanks."  
  
 It had been the only thing that he could have said that would have gotten through to her. Pansy hated false sympathy as much as she had once hated Gryffindors, so coming from anyone but someone who was going through the same would have only caused offense.  
  
 It was a loss to them, one that had been integral to their well-being without them even knowing about it at the time. And right now, they didn't want the well-meaning sympathy and help from their friends because to them, it felt as if they were being torn apart.  
  
 "No problem."  
  
 And with that Ron and Pansy also followed their friends down the corridor to get off the train and complete their final year of school, reflecting on the excitement and happiness they had felt when getting on the train and on what had happened to change them so much over the last two weeks. 


	6. Dinner with the Malfoys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner and revelations are had and Malfoys are met. Springtime is a time for starting anew, right?

 "It's weird that we're heading back already." Harry said as he watched the countryside streak past the windows of the Hogwarts Express once more.  
  
 "Yeah, I never thought that three months could pass by so quickly." Ginny agreed as she smiled gently at Harry as he concentrated on the scenery outside. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to pretend that she was over him, it was beginning to slowly kill her from the inside out. She dated Micheal Corner again for a short couple of weeks when they came back and he briefly hooked up with a girl a year below her, but apart from that they had remained single.  
  
 "It feels good to be going back though." Ron stated as he turned from viewing the countryside to face them.  
  
 "Yeah." Harry agreed and Ginny smiled.  
  
 It had taken Ron two months to properly get out of 'mourning' for Hermione, he had taken the heartbreak a lot harder than they had expected him to. It appeared that his love for Hermione really had been that deep, despite her obviously not feeling the same. During that time, he and Pansy had grown inexplicably closer, they had bonded over their shared heartbreak, feeling that only the other could really understand the extent of their feelings. It had led to some interesting consequences.  
  
 _One month ago....._  
  
 "Guys....." They all looked up to see a nervous looking Ron. "We have to tell you something."  
  
 Harry looked at Ron in confusion and Blaise raised an eyebrow at Ginny who shrugged in response. Luna merely smiled dreamily and looked as if she had been expecting this for quite some time now.  
  
 "What's the matter Ron?" Harry asked, wondering what could possibly be making his best friend this nervous. He had only recently started to properly contribute in discussions once more and Harry still felt a bit unsure whether Ron would 'relapse' or not.  
  
 "Um..... well....." He coughed and scratched the back of his head nervously.  
  
 "He and I are going out." Pansy stated calmly as she came out from behind him. Silence met them as Blaise nearly fell from his chair, Harry's eyes nearly popped out and Ginny made something akin to a choking noise.  
  
 "Congratulations." Luna smiled at them warmly. "I'm glad that you finally got together, the Nargles were getting quite insistent in buzzing around you." This typical comment from her made Ron chuckle slightly in relief and Pansy smile shyly. It was then that Harry noticed that Pansy was nervously holding Ron's hand, the two of them were obviously unsure of their reactions. Which, considering the past history between their groups and houses, was not that strange a fear to have.  
  
 "Well..... this is certainly a surprise." Blaise said and then split into a wide grin. "But I'm happy for you two."  
  
 "Same here." Harry smiled warmly. They all turned to look at Ginny.  
  
 "I can't say that I'm not shocked." Ginny said as she held up her hands in a mock surrender. "But if it's what makes you two happy then I guess that it's good." She sent them a tentative smile. She had always imagined Hermione and her brother ending up together so seeing him with anyone else was still not that easy. Add the fact that she and Pansy hadn't really gotten along for the majority of the last six years and one could see why she would have some difficulties with accepting it.  
  
 Ron's and Pansy's faces both split into grins. They couldn't believe how lucky they were to have such understanding friends.  
  
 _Back in the present....._  
  
 It really had caused an uproar, Ron's and Pansy's relationship. It had rocked the foundations of the very school in a sense. Never had there been a relationship between two students of Gryffindor and Slytherin..... well, during their time in school at least. Most people were still in the dark about Hermione and Draco, and they were all pretty sure that if the news became public in school that it would cause something akin to the apocalypse.  
  
 Blaise's and Luna's relationship had already been a shocker and several people had reacted badly to them, considering who they were. Blaise, one of the most desired people in Slytherin, right after his currently absent best friend actually and Luna, one of the most eccentric people the school had possibly ever seen. They really made quite a pair.  
  
 But that was nothing on how people reacted to Ron's and Pansy's relationship, how they were still reacting to it. There had been curses and swearing, people had been more rude than anyone would have thought and it was mainly the younger years that were the cause for this reaction, instead of the older years who had participated more actively in the war. It seemed as if the younger years still had that old rivalry, that strong sense of house seperation. The older generations had seen the war. Had lived those prejudices and lost all the more for it. For a lot of them, it wasn't worth getting angry over such a thing anymore.  
  
 Which was why they were all so happy to be going back home for a week during the Easter Break, it meant that they could all briefly escape the intense scrutiny that was present in the school, not only due to their relationships but also due to their position after the war.  
  
 What was more appealing and interesting though than heading back home to the Burrow though (Blaise and Luna had also been invited at the request of Harry, Ron and Ginny while Pansy was coming as well due to her position as Ron's girlfriend despite nobody at the Burrow knowing about that yet) was the fact that they had all received a letter two weeks prior from Hermione and Draco respectively.   
  
 It had been somewhat of a surprise but a pleasant one none the less. In them they had both asked their friends if they would like to come and join them for a dinner in two days, and they had all replied and agreed to go. It would be the first time seeing the two of them since the war had ended so they weren't really sure what to expect. The videos had offered only that much of an insight after all.  
  
 Never the less, they couldn't help but look forward to seeing them again.

~.~.~.~.~

 Two days later found them all standing in front of a beautiful house in the more wealthy London suburbs as they debated on who should ring the bell to announce their arrival. So far it remained undecided and they had all been standing here for a grand total of ten minutes.  
  
 The last two days had been hectic. After arriving on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Molly had whisked them all off to the Burrow where a literal feast had been waiting for them. At that late lunch/early dinner the rest of the Weasleys present (which was all apart from Charlie and Bill and his family) had been introduced to Blaise and Pansy as they already knew Luna from before. There were surprised exclamations when Blaise was announced as Luna's boyfriend, one of which being Fred who muttered something along the lines of 'how come even she can find a good looking partner?' as he had remained single, while the announcement of Pansy being Ron's girlfriend shocked them all into silence.  
  
 Molly had been the first to move after that declaration by hugging Pansy and telling her to 'make herself at home'. She had already noticed the obvious change in Ron's demeanour and she had rightly guessed that Pansy had been a cause of it. And anybody who made her children happy was as good as welcome to the family in her books. Maybe she would have been angry months ago, would have railed against her being in Slytherin and too uppity for her son, but now, after much deliberation and many discussions with her husband (including one rather memorable night spent on the couch), she had come to a different conclusion.  
  
 The fact that Ron had another girlfriend who looked as if it was serious this time caused Fred to throw up his hands in the air in annoyance and state that life was unfair as everyone else seemed to be getting a partner whereas he remained alone. After all, even Percy had a girlfriend by the name of Audrey whom he had met at the Ministry a good two months ago and had been dating for six weeks, a record in his books.  
  
 George had muttered something about inter-house unity being taken way to seriously by their generation which earned him a smack upside the head by his mother and a jab in the side by his wife. Arthur had merely chuckled and seemed content with the fact that his children appeared to be doing rather well with the sudden change with the whole time skip thing.  
  
 Bill and Fleur along with Victoire, Dominique and Louis had come the next day and they had spent the whole day playing with their nieces and nephew while Bill and Fleur talked with them and enjoyed the fact that they could relax a bit as they were keeping their children busy. Charlie had popped by later in the afternoon as his work had finished for the day and the dinner that evening had been loud and busy. Neither Pansy nor Blaise were used to such a rowdy environment, considering that they both came from elite pureblood families and were slightly overwhelmed by the warm welcome they received. Luna on the other hand, despite being an only child and having a relatively calm childhood took it all in stride, merely smiling dreamily and telling the children all about the mysterious creatures that he could see, Blaise chipping in every now and then.  
  
 Which lead them to today. The day had been relatively calm, peaceful almost and the boys had enjoyed playing some quidditch in the morning while Ginny and Pansy had bonded over their mutual love for clothes and fashion. Luna hadn't really been interested in fashion all that much but she had also joined in, offering her unique opinions here and there, being a good friend to the both of them.  
  
 Then after lunch the panicking had begun. At least, the girls had begun panicking, namely Pansy, although Ginny was quite nervous too. For Pansy, it would be the first time she would see her ex-boyfriend whom she had loved for a very long time and she wanted to make a good impression, thus resulting in her trying on outfit after outfit as she also wished to look good for Ron.  
  
 Ginny on the other hand wanted to impress Harry more than anything else so she was wavering between something more provocative or something more comfortable. The dinner gave them a chance to dress up and the two girls wanted to use it to their full advantage.  
  
 Luna on the other hand had already chosen what to wear, settling on a comfortable yellow summer dress with a nice red jacket. It really was rather unique to her and Blaise had called her 'absolutely stunning' when he had seen her, causing even her to blush a bit while she smiled brilliantly at her boyfriend.  
  
 Ron was in a similar dilemna to Pansy, wanting to impress both Hermione as well as look good for Pansy, knowing that with Draco Malfoy as a previous boyfriend she would be used to a lot more than what he normally offered on a day to day basis. And Harry also wanted to impress Ginny thus leading him to also become more and more nervous the more Ron fretted.  
  
 Blaise merely smiled and shook his head. He doubted that either Hermione or his best friend had actually meant for them to dress up as they had invited them to their home after all. But no one would really listen to him or Luna when they tried to point that out so they decided to remain silent and watch the flurry of activity in amusement.  
  
 Which lead them to the situation in front of the Malfoy home right now. Ginny had, in the end, decided on something that flattered her figure but was still comfortable while Pansy had decided on something similar to Ginny's too, namely more comfortable than flashy.  
  
 "Okay, I'm just going to ring it. This is getting ridiculous." Blaise stated and pushed the doorbell, not even giving the others any time to protest and ask for more time so that they could adjust to the situation a bit more.  
  
 "Coming." Came a somewhat dislocated voice from inside the house. A few seconds later the door was thrown open, giving them a great view of Draco Malfoy with a baby on his hips, looking somewhat dishevelled with his shirt hanging out on one side and the blue paint on his face.  
  
 "Ah, it's you guys." He smiled, "Come in." He gestured into the hallway. "You can put your shoes over there," He pointed to one wall, "And the living room's through there. You can make yourselves at home." He pointed down the hallway to another room. "You're going to have to excuse me for a minute though, Ella needs to get changed and the other kids aren't ready yet. Hermione will be down in a second." And with that he nearly ran off as he heard another crash from upstairs.  
  
 "Are they here?" Came a female voice from upstairs. Harry recognised it as Hermione's.  
  
 "Yeah, they're here. I have to go change Ella though and tell Cassie and Scorp to stop playing with the face paint. Also the food's in the oven so we have to keep an eye on it." He shouted back before going upstairs himself.  
  
 They all stood in the hallway completely gobsmacked. They couldn't really quite process what had just happened. Draco Malfoy with a baby on his hips and face paint on his face. They had expected many things but not this. Definitely not this.  
  
 They were still standing in the hallway when they heard someone coming down the stairs and Hermione appeared before them, looking older than they remembered and a lot like she had on the videos. Her eyes bore a happy sparkle and her hair was pulled back into a bun with a few loose strands flying here and there.  
  
 "Harry, Ginny, Luna, Ron!" She grinned as she rushed forward. Ginny noted that she had an almost maternal tone now to her voice. "And Blaise and Pansy." She smiled warmly at them all. "Oh gods, I've missed you all so much!" And with that she hugged each of them tightly, even Blaise and Pansy to their everlasting surprise.  
  
 Once they had all been hugged she stepped back to look at them more closely. "You all still look exactly the same although a lot healthier. I hope that you've been eating properly." She looked at them all very carefully. Ginny decided then and there that it was obvious that she was now a mother, there was no way she would act like this otherwise. It kind of reminded her of her own mother.  
  
 "We have been 'Mione." Harry was the first to respond, cracking a humongous grin. "And believe me it's great to see you again too."  
  
 Hermione's returning smile was blinding. "Well come on in then, I'm sure Draco's already told you to make yourself at home, right?"  
  
 "Yeah, he did." Blaise responded.  
  
 "Well come on then." She smiled once more before leading the way to the living room.  
  
 "Mummy, mummy, mummy, Scorpius stole my doll!" Came a shout as two figures ran into the room, one of them chasing the other. One was a girl and the other a boy.  
  
 "Did not. I was just looking at her." The small boy retorted.  
  
 "Scorpius, give your sister back her doll." Hermione said patiently.  
  
 "But I was just looking at her!" Scorpius responded rather heatedly.  
  
 "Scorpius....." She sent her son a look that he clearly knew, in fact, it was one that Harry and Ron knew as well, her 'no nonsense' look.  
  
 "Okay, okay....." Scorpius muttered and shot the girl a look.  
  
 "And Cassie, please get that face paint off of your face sweetheart, I'm sure that it would make your dad's life a lot easier." Hermione added as well and the small girl sighed, clearly not happy with the decision to take off the array of colours present on her face.  
  
 "Okay mummy." The two children ran back upstairs but not before throwing a curious look at the many people that they didn't know in their living room.  
  
 "Sorry about that." Hermione smiled sheepishly at them. "They've been playing with the face paint all day and they're kind of unwilling to stop."  
  
 "They're quite stubborn, aren't they?" Luna asked with a gentle smile on her face.  
  
 "Yeah, and it's completely Draco's fault. Stubborn Malfoy genes." But she was grinning as she said that.  
  
 "Your genes are just as stubborn love." Draco had come back into the room, the baby on his arm now sporting a different set of clothes while the face paint on his face was also gone. He leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the lips. The gesture seemed habitual, as if they did it almost naturally, sending a small shock through all of them. Seeing the two former enemies-turned-spouses so close to one another right in front of them was certainly different to seeing them on a screen or hearing about their relationship.  
  
 The normality of it all was the strangest thing.  
  
 "I'm going to go check on the dinner, but I'll be back in a minute." The first part was directed at Hermione while the second part was meant for them.

 "So....." Ginny said after a minute of silence, feeling slightly uncomfortable, "Four children, huh?"   
  
 "Yeah," Hermione returned the awkward smile, "Believe me, if someone had told me this ten years ago I would have sent them to St. Mungo's without a second thought but now," She shrugged as she smiled down at her youngest daughter, "I can't imagine anything else."  
  
 "Dinner's ready in five minutes." Draco's voice echoed through the house and Harry started slightly. Seeing Malfoy behave in such a manner was really, really, really strange.  
  
 "Come on, let's go to the dining room." Hermione stated and they all followed her, still slightly unsure of how to act. Ron and Pansy definitely had it worst as they were feeling awkward enough to wish that they could merely drop through the floor and vanish.  
  
 Footsteps were heard as three children came running down the stairs. Once they arrived, Hermione introduced all of her children to them and they all had to admit that they were adorable. Well, in the way that small children were.  
  
 Draco arrived soon after with the dinner that Hermione said he had cooked, upon which Blaise burst out laughing at the thought of his pureblood best friend standing in front of a stove and cooking by hand. The loud chuckles finally broke the ice and the tension appeared to literally seep from the room.  
  
 Dinner was a lively affair, the children keeping them all on their toes. Scorpius' and Cassie's spats were amusing to watch as it was obvious that they cared for one another, Jasper, for all of his two years of age, suprised them immensely with his advanced speaking abilities (they secretly agreed that he would be taking the position of smartest wizard of the age after his mother) and Ella commanded her mother's or father's attention while eating. She was a messy eater and it was hilarious to watch Draco and Hermione battling with the spoon, the food and Ella's mouth.  
  
 It was only after the children had been put to bed an hour later (and another change of clothes for Draco and Hermione) that they actually sat down and talked.  
  
 "So how have you guys been?" Hermione asked as Draco filled the glasses in front of them with some wine. They were all of age but the act was still an unusual one for them.  
  
 "We've been mostly good." Luna began. "Coping with losing ten years hasn't been all that easy." She looked a bit sad at that.  
  
 "Condolences for your father by the way." Draco said and Hermione repeated that as well.  
  
 "Thank you." Luna smiled genuinly now as them knowing about her father's death showed how much they had kept in touch with the world and looking out for news about them.  
  
 "Luna and I are going out now." Blaise stated rather smugly, throwing an arm around Luna's shoulder. She merely rolled her eyes in response to his gesture.  
  
 "I told you so." Draco told Hermione and she chuckled at their surprised expressions.  
  
 "How did you know?" Blaise asked.  
  
 "You've been throwing her 'covert'" Draco air quoted, "looks all evening. I would have been more surprised if you hadn't been going out."  
 Blaise spluttered slightly and Luna grinned.  
  
 "And as we were the first to get married out of everyone, they've been coming to us for their relationship dramas and problems." Hermione heaved a weary sigh and Draco looked slightly exasperated. Harry snorted.  
  
 "It's not funny Potter." Draco was obviously still not at the stage to call them by their first names which was perfectly fine with them. They weren't friends but from what they had seen of his behaviour this evening, the Gryffindors believed that maybe they could be. "You try listening to Greg and Seamus blather on and on about troubles with their girlfriends and wives for hours on end while drinking alcohol and then we can talk again."  
  
 Blaise looked highly amused. It was obvious that despite pretending not to like the 'blathering' all that much that Draco cared more than enough for the people doing the blathering. Hermione laughed. Blaise and Luna then went on to tell them how they had gotten together. It was funny to watch Blaise get flustered as Luna poked fun at him for taking as long as he had to ask her out and then to see Luna's blush when Blaise said that if she had liked him for so long then she should have just asked him out which just started a whole discussion on how to be a gentleman.  
  
 It was an hour later that they got onto Ron and Pansy. Hermione had already expressed her surprise by raising her eyebrows when she had found out that Harry and Ginny weren't together while Draco merely quirked a silver-blonde eyebrow in Harry's direction. Harry scowled back slightly in response. He did not need a married man commenting on him not being together with an ex-girlfriend.  
  
 "So you two are going out?" Hermione asked, looking a bit surprised.  
  
 "Yeah." Ron nodded, blushing slightly.  
  
 "That's brilliant!" Hermione grinned.  
  
 "What?" Pansy looked confused.  
  
 "Well, Draco and me were discussing who we thought would fit with whom and we came to the conclusion that the two of you would fit together quite well if given the chance. We just didn't think that it would have already happened." Hermione explained and Draco nodded.  
  
 "Why do you think that we fit together well?" Ron asked, looking at Draco, then at Hermione and then back at Draco again.  
  
 "Well, for one Lavender and you never really fit together well Ron, she's simply too clingy." Hermione began and Ron flushed slightly, remembering that three months ago he had been together with Lavender.  
  
 "And you need someone who's down to earth and can appreciate the simpler things in life, Pans." Draco stated. "We've always been surrounded by wealth and glitz and glamour and all that and we easily forget the things that make life what it really is. But most Slytherins tend to be like that so you and another Slytherin would be too like minded. Weasley, you're exactly like that, you appreciate the simpler things in life and know all of the things that we don't really know such as a loving family and the importance of things that aren't material." Draco continued.  
  
 "Yeah and then two Slytherins together normally try to outwit each other and are constantly suspicious of one another because they know how alike their natures are." Hermione picked up where her husband had finished off. "If you want a really harmonious and lasting relationship you need a bit of contrast, someone who isn't always as conniving and scheming as you, someone who lets you relax and merely be yourself." She smiled at her husband who returned it.  
  
 "So..... you don't mind the two of us together?" Pansy asked hesitantly, showing her true side in front of all of these people that she knew she could trust.  
  
 Hermione and Draco shot one another incredulous looks, well, Hermione shot one at her husband who looked surprised in turn.   
  
 "Of course not." Came Hermione's answer. "We're happy that the two of you are together."  
  
 And that was when it seemed as if huge weights had been lifted off of Pansy's and Ron's shoulders and the two of them sat up straighter and for the rest of the three hours that they stayed there that night, they participated more actively in all discussions and seemed generally more relaxed. It appeared as if the mere acceptance on Hermione's and Draco's parts had allowed them to finally let go of that last piece of their past relationships that they had been clinging on to and allowed them to finally concentrate wholly on their own relationship instead.  
  
 The talks that followed were tales of Hogwarts lessons and teachers, as Hermione and Draco were keen to hear about all of them that had remained in the castle, which then moved on to them talking about their company and the many things that happened there. Pictures were also shown of their children and various events in their lives and time literally flew by.  
  
 The group of six teens that left the house shortly after midnight that night left with promises to stay in touch and to meet up soon, maybe in Hogsmeade some time during the school times and definitely for their graduation as Hermione and Draco didn't want to miss it for the world.  
  
 Ginny smiled properly for the first time since the war had ended as she looked up at the stars out of her window that night. Things were looking up again and she felt it in her heart that good things were hopefully going to happen. Hope blossomed in her heart. She was still friends with Hermione, Luna and she were becoming closer and Pansy wasn't as bad as she had thought. And if the whole situation with Harry had waited this long, then it could wait a little while longer as they sorted out their lives again, even if it hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for this being so late! Life happened, including moving to a new country and starting a new job so sadly that took priority (as life is wont to do) but hopefully I should now finish posting the rest of this before the summer is up!


	7. Meeting in Hogsmeade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ron lands himself in hot water, Hermione gives advice and Hogsmeade is visited.

Hermione thought over the letter that Ginny had sent her two days ago once more. It was confusing to say the least. It had been abrupt and very vague, quite unlike her friend who normally had a tendancy to write too much. It had asked whether she would be able to make it to meet them in Hogsmeade this weekend despite the short notice.

There had been an urgency to the letter that had made Hermione sit up straight when she read it, and Draco had agreed that she should go to see what was wrong so therefore he had told her that he would pick up Scorpius and Cassie from their primary school today and take care of Jasper and Ella, that it wouldn't be a problem at all.

She somehow doubted that a lot of husbands offered to take care of four children, all under the age of six, willingly. It made her love him all the more.

And so she found herself walking from the apparition point outside of Hogsmeade into the village, three weeks after the others had gone back to Hogwarts to start their summer term. They had met once more after the dinner at their house, and it had been three days later to go shopping together and she had to say that it had been a suprisingly pleasant experience.

Despite saying that she had no problem with Pansy at all, she had, in some part of her heart, been somewhat anxious about the other girl. She had been Draco's ex after all and she knew that the two of them were close childhood friends, having known each other since infancy. She hadn't really liked her all that much during their time in school, the incident with offering Harry over to Voldemort at the end of their seventh year only cementing that feeling of dislike, but after listening to Draco talk about her and their friendship, she had come to understand that there was a lot more to the other girl than she had initially thought.

It had taken her quite some time to warm up to the idea of being friends with Pansy, and she knew that it would probably still take the other girl quite some time to properly warm up to her. But whereas she had had ten years to grow used to the idea of Pansy, Pansy hadn't had that luxury of time yet and she knew that she would have to be patient.

She personally thought that it was probably the same for Draco in terms of Ron. Their families had still had a deep abiding hatred of one another when the school had been put under the preservation spell and both she and Draco had seen how hard it had been on Ron to not try and needle him at the dinner. She was genuinly thankful for Ron having learnt the self-control though and had told him so three days later when they had briefly seen each other when she had come to pick up Ginny and Pansy from the Burrow. He had smiled a strained smile and told her that he was trying her best, and that Pansy was too, but that they really shouldn't be surprised or offended if one of them said something derogatory.

She had understood that perfectly well. It seemed as if the war had made them all mature though, but she wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing or not. On one hand it was, but on the other hand it had ripped away their childhood.

And she knew that Draco agreed. Due to his exposure to Charlie, Bill and George over the past decade, he had come to get over the petty hatred between the Malfoys and the Weasleys and she knew that those three had too. Oh, he was still sarcastic and biting at times, but that was a part of his nature and character so therefore something she knew that it wouldn't change.

He had had the time to get used to the idea of tolerating and maybe even befriending Ron and Harry, although the latter was probably not going to be all that easy, much like she had with Pansy so they were fine on that front.

The Weasleys would take time to adjust though, that much she knew. Fred appeared to be transitioning the easiest, having jumped back into the social scene and the inventing and the shop almost immediately. He had also told her that it was interesting to now have a 'ferret' as part of the family when they had talked two weeks ago when they had bumped into each other in Diagon Alley, she being on her way home from work (Draco was watching the children that day) and him being on the way back to his and George's shop.

Apparently he had also gone out on a date the week before if one believed George.

Mr. Weasley and Percy though appeared to be adjusting a bit more slowly though as Percy had greeted her cordially when they had seen each other in the Ministry when she had been delivering some papers (much the same as ever then) while Mr. Weasley had greeted her politely as opposed to his usually warm greeting and had made some small talk with her.

And Mrs. Weasley she didn't really know about as she hadn't seen her yet. Bill had told them that she was still coping with the fact that she was a grandma and that two of her children were married and that she herself was married too. Apparently she was cooking and thinking a lot, working through the changes by doing housework and cooking, occupying her fingers while allowing her mind to stray and learn to work through the different things that had happened in the past decade. The comfort of the Burrow and the housework appeared to be working wonders on that front.

She knew that they were trying though and that they hadn't broken down because of the sudden need to adjust to a whole different time and for that she was proud of them.

She honestly didn't know how she herself would have coped with such an abrupt change of scenery.

Which brought her back to the present, where she was currently trudging through the muddy main road of Hogsmeade, apparently it had rained only yesterday. Thankfully she was wearing some good and sturdy shoes though so her feet weren't getting wet.

She assumed that they would probably be meeting in the Three Broomsticks, as that was the place that people usually met in Hogsmeade.

She severly doubted that they would be meeting in the Hog's Head, the place simply didn't have the atmosphere that the Three Broomsticks possessed.

And so she finally reached the pub which they had all frequented quite often when she had been in school here. She was glad to finally reach it. It may be nearly May but somehow the weather had decided to go all moody and was constantly changing, almost like the ceiling in the Great Hall in Hogwarts only that it wasn't just an image on the wall.

Looking around the pub she noted that Madam Rosmerta was still running it and that there was an unusually large amount of people present that day. Ginny's flaming red hair was easy to spot in the crowd and as she walked through the masses she became increasingly aware of all of the whispers that were beginning to float around her.

"Who's that?" Someone asked.

"She looks hot." Came another. This comment caused her to smirk in a manner that was awfully reminiscent of her husband. They were saying this about a married woman who had given birth to four children after all.

"Ginny!" She called out, deciding that she really wasn't all that intrested in what people thought of her anyway.

"Hermione!" Ginny swung around and looked extremely relieved to see her. This sparked Hermione's worry even further.

The fact that people were beginning to recognise her though due to Ginny calling out her name caused the people around them to really explode into a multitude of whispers.

" _That's_ Hermione Granger."

"It's not possible."

"Wow, she's gotten hot."

"She's become beautiful."

"What did she do to her hair, I should ask her because if she can tame her hair then I can too."

Really, people were way too superficial.

"Thank god you're here. We've got a huge problem!" Ginny exclaimed in a hushed whisper and pulled her into a private room that they had apparently gotten before casting a _muffliato_ to prevent anyone else from listening into their conversation.

"What's happened?" That's when Hermione noticed an absolutely dejected and almost angry looking Pansy and a contemplative Luna.

"My idiot of a brother has really done it this time!" Ginny had obviously decided to go on a rant rather than tell her what had actually happened.

"I am sad that I have to agree." Luna nodded and Hermione was sure that something really big must have happened if Luna and Ginny were so openly agreeing with one another. The two different personalities of her friends normally caused Luna to remain rather objective or mystical while Ginny got all empassioned about whatever it was.

"Um..." Maybe it would be better to know what was actually going on.

"He's an A-class bastard!" Ginny continued. Hermione just sighed, poked her head out to order a firewhiskey and sat back down at the table next to Pansy who was still in a brooding silence. Patience was something that had come to her over time.

"An absolute moron!" And it continued in that tone, one insult following the other as Ginny ranted on and on about Ron. After five minutes of that though, Hermione decided that she should probably know what Ron had actually done this time.

"So what has he actually done?" Hermione asked in the small break in Ginny's tirade when she was taking a breath.

"He's gotten Lavender pregnant!" Ginny exclaimed and Hermione nearly choked on her drink. Her best friend had done what?!

~.~.~.~.~

Pansy sighed for what felt like the millionth time in four days as she slowly walked down the corridor that led to the Slytherin dungeons. She had to say that after talking to Hermione for two hours in the Three Broomsticks and listening to Ginny curse her brother for his stupidity, she did feel kind of better.

_"What do you mean he's gotten Lavender pregnant?" Hermione looked at Ginny with a surprised and shocked expression on her face, her calm obviously having been broken._

_"He's gotten her pregnant, that's what it means!" Ginny exclaimed, Pansy finally turning away from looking out of the window to participate in the conversation._

_"Yeah, yeah, I got that part. I meant the how." Hermione waved her hand in an almost dismissive manner, it was obvious that she believed Ginny._

_"Apparently they forgot to use protection during the Christmas holidays. She's nearly four months along." Pansy stated in a monotone voice. To her great surprise, Hermione hugged her closely and the dam just broke. For the first time since she had heard the news the tears began to flow and to her great embarrassment she broke down into tears in Hermione's arms while Hermione just held her and stroked her back in a calming and reassuring manner._

_Three minutes and a lot of tissues and apologies for ruining the shirt later, all four of them sat around the table. Hermione had reassured her that her four children had actually ruined a lot of clothes as opposed to simply making them wet but Pansy still felt bad about the sudden loss of control over her emotions. It was simply the way that Hermione had been so motherly and the comforting air that surrounded her that had probably caused her to finally show her true feelings about the whole situation._

_"So what actually happened?" Hermione asked._

_"You know that all of the 'eighth' years have a shared common room, right?" Ginny asked and Hermione nodded. They had told her about that on their last shopping trip. "Well, Luna and I normally join Pansy, Ron, Harry and Blaise there as we can all meet there without any problems. The different house common rooms wouldn't work." Hermione nodded to show that she was following the story. "Well, Lavender came up to us and pretty much told us, and the whole common room," Ginny looked distasteful at this, "That she was pregnant with Ron's child and that he would have to marry her."_

_"And like any ordinary young man that is told out of the blue that he is going to be a father, he went into shock." Luna said as Pansy sniffled a bit and blew her nose. She kind of missed the days when emotional breakdowns didn't actually happen, but then again this meant that she trusted these people enough to actually show a weakness, something that she greatly cherished and would never have believed to be possible._

_"Blaise choked on his water and Harry made a good goldfish impression." Luna added almost absently._

_Pansy admired her for finding any humour in the situation at all._

_"We were completely blindsided by it as well." Ginny added. "We couldn't actually say anything for the first minute or so."_

_"The whole common room couldn't say anything for the first minute or so." Luna said with a small smile on her face._

_"If the situation hadn't been so dire I would have probably laughed at them all finally shutting up." Ginny allowed herself a small smile as well. The edges of Pansy's mouth twitched but didn't really make it up to form a smile._

_"And admired Lavender for managing it." Luna said thoughtfully._

_"I cannot stand her right now." Ginny snarled. Pansy's eyes also flashed._

_"What happened then?" Hermione inquired._

_"Ron spluttered, Blaise actually choked, Harry nearly fainted and Ginny and Pansy still sat there in shock." Luna commented. "Oh, and the rest of the common room erupted into a whirlwind of splutters, stutters and a lot of coughs."_

_"Harry then asked her quite weakly how that was possible." Ginny continued the story._

_"She had Parvati and Faye flanking her." Luna interjected._

_"And she told us how they had obviously forgotten the protection." Pansy spat out._

_"And Ron asked her quite eloquently why she was telling him." Ginny muttered darkly._

_"He more like tripped and stumbled over the words." Pansy said not unkindly._

_"He was still in shock." Luna nodded sagely and Hermione also nodded when she caught Luna's eye. She knew how one of her two best friends worked after all._

_"She then proceeded to tell us that she had found out over the Easter break and that her parents weren't allowing an abortion and were telling her that she had to marry Ron." Ginny was looking murderous again._

_"Her family is quite conservative." Luna's ability to remain calm and add in random comments which actually helped the flow of the conversation was quite interesting and admirable._

_"Ron surprisingly told her that he couldn't marry her as he was already in love with Pansy." Ginny added next, this action had obviously somewhat redeemed her brother in her eyes for his stupidity._

_"Which was when Lavender showed him the marriage contract her parents had already drawn up as they refused to have a grandchild born out of wedlock." Pansy said softly and the understanding in Hermione's eyes showed that she knew of the disgrace that came with witches that had children without actually being married._

_"And Pansy ran, Ginny followed and I successfully stopped Harry and Blaise from doing something stupid while Ron went into an actual shock." Luna rounded off quite nicely._

After that they had talked for another hour or so and Pansy replayed Hermione's words in her mind after they had told her that Pansy hadn't actually spoken to Ron ever since the incident and that Ginny and Luna had been doing their best to help her wherever possible.

_"You should talk to him." Hermione said, looking directly into her eyes. "He's known to sometimes do things impulsively and I think that's probably one of the things you really like about him." Hermione's correct deduction caused Pansy to blush brightly. "Give him a chance to talk and explain himself and work through this together. You're going to get nowhere in the relationship despite caring for one another greatly if you don't talk to one another and sort out your problems face-to-face."_

Pansy had to admit that Hermione was right. By avoiding Ron she had probably done the wrong thing but she of all people knew how conservative pure-blooded families like Lavender's could be as her own was already pretty bad. She simply couldn't see how Ron could get out of marrying Lavender and so she had distanced herself, as she always did, to protect her own heart.

But that it would hurt so much being seperated from him was something that she hadn't really counted on.

And then there were the horrible rumours that were also flying around at the moment. Lavender had staged the confession quite cleverly as now not only did all of his friends know, the whole school did too as there were so many gossipers in their year that it was almost unbelievable.

The hushed whispers that followed her everywhere weren't really doing things for her self-esteem as it was assumed everywhere that Ron would go back to Lavender and that she had merely been a rebound.

And that thought hurt her the most.

She rounded the corner and her breath caught in her throat as she spied Ron sitting against the wall with his hands in his pockets, obviously waiting for someone. He turned to look her way as the sound of her footsteps reached his ears and relief flooded into his eyes.

"Pansy!" He exclaimed happily and stood up quickly. She took a careful step backwards and he stopped moving towards her.

"Listen, I know that the whole situation is pretty strange and believe me, it is." He was pulling his left hand through his ginger hair, a gesture she knew he only had when he was incredibly nervous. Her stomach clenched, was he going to say what she thought he was going to say?

"Ron, it's okay..." She began and she barely recognised the voice as her own, it was so detached.

"No!" He quickly exclaimed and she jumped in shock. "Listen, please." She couldn't find her voice so she merely nodded.

"I'm not marrying Lavender." He said quickly and she was so shocked she couldn't react. He wasn't?

"I've thought about it long and hard but I know that marrying her only because her family doesn't want the child to be out of wedlock is the wrong reason to do so. I've already told her that and she understands. She's being pressured by her family and she's told me that she doens't actually want to marry me either as she believes in the whole thing about marrying for love, a view her family doesn't share."

"But..." Pansy truly didn't know what to say.

"She's not going to get an abortion but we're both going to raise the child although we won't be living together. I've already written mum and I'm meeting her in Hogsmeade next week with Lavender to talk through things and I've told her I'll be there to help her with the pregnancy and to stand strong against her family." Ron swallowed and looked her straight in the eye. "I love you Pansy and I'm not willing to give up our relationship unless you are."

His blunt answer, his easy explanation and his honest confession caused tears to form in her eyes and she nodded softly before flinging herself into his arms, completely abandoning the control over her emotions and leaving behind the cold facade of the woman that she had pretended to be.

"I love you too." She whispered and he leaned in to kiss her. The way that he made her and let her express her true emotions was something that she truly valued around him as before, that part of her had only been visible to Draco and Blaise, whom she had both known since before they could walk.

"We'll figure this out somehow, okay?" He asked, his expressive eyes looking deeply into her sapphire ones and finding nothing but a mirror image of the emotions in his own eyes.

"Okay." She whispered, nodding weakly, completely and utterly happy that she had decided to take Hermione's advice and listen to what Ron had to say.


	8. Graduation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprises come in all shapes and sizes. And because things eventually come to an end.

 "So, let me get this straight. Nobody in school knows that we are actually married." Hermione said, gesturing to herself and Draco in the process. Ginny nodded nervously.  
  
 "So we are going to completely and utterly stun the school by appearing together, holding hands and wearing matching wedding bands." Draco continued. Ginny nodded again.  
  
 "This is epic." Seamus commented as he walked next to the three of them to the Great Hall.  
  
 It was a whole one and a half months later and all of them were finally graduating from Hogwarts, the seventh and eighth years alike. All of the students that hadn't been able to rejoin their year groups due to the preservation spell were invited to attend as special guests, as they had all already graduated from other schools.  
  
 "How is this epic?" Hermione quirked an eyebrow at Seamus and it was then that Ginny made her escape, but not before throwing another look at Seamus, as this was the first time that she had seen him in nearly a whole year.  
  
 She found that he had grown a lot more handsome and that age had agreed with him. Not that she would tell Harry that she still found her ex attractive though. What he didn't know wouldn't kill him, as the saying went.  
  
 "Because you two have just gained the ultimate power of stunning everyone here!" Seamus exclaimed with a grin. They had entered the Great Hall and walked to their seats, where Greg was already sitting next to Diana who had come to watch as well as Greg's 'plus one'. Hermione personally found it quite amusing that such a 'Muggle' concept was being adopted quite readily into the wizarding world while others, much more normal things such as communicating through telephones instead of owl post, were viewed as outlandish and downright 'weird'.  
  
 "Another one of his hare-brained schemes?" Greg asked and Draco and Hermione nodded in response with a defeated sigh. Greg looked at them sympathetically while Diana merely looked amused. The antics of Seamus Finnigan never failed to amuse her. Never failed to amuse anyone who knew him actually. The twins definitely had their mischievous nature from their father.  
  
 The Great Hall was still pretty empty. They were very early, exactly as planned, as that meant that they were already in their seats when nearly everyone else entered and they could avoid all of the needless chit-chat until after the actual graduation ceremony. And there would be a lot of needless chit-chat considering that this was the first time that they had returned to the school ever since it had 'vanished'.  
  
 So far the visit had managed to evoke feelings of nostalgia within all of them. All of them could still see their school days flash by in front of their eyes.  
  
 Seamus remembered all the times that something had exploded for him, well nearly everything anyway as that had been a far too common occurrence for him to actually remember each and every instance where it had happened. He remembered each and every time that he had asked someone out, what he and his friends had done in all of the different parts of the school and even the lessons themselves. He remembered rooming in the Gryffindor Tower, getting up to all sorts of mischief with Dean. The Quidditch. The food. Especially the food.  
  
 Greg could remember Vincent and all of the times that they had spent together here. He remembered the pranks that they had played and felt slightly guilty, as well as amused in some cases, of all the times that they had bullied people from the other houses. Some of those people really had had it coming. He remembered the food fondly as well and the companionship that he had shared with the rest of his house despite everyone always assuming that Slytherins were a cold-hearted bunch when they actually weren't.  
  
 Hermione could still remember all of the times that she had walked into this hall and seen Harry and Ron waiting for her at the Gryffindor table and all of the times that they hadn't been there. She could remember the antagonistic feelings that had always served as a barrier between Gryffindors and Slytherins, the way that the two houses always glared at one another. She felt fond feelings rise within her chest as she thought of the library, the teachers and the lessons. All of it had meant so much to her back then.  
  
 Draco had less happy memories than the rest of them, but the ones that he had, he cherished. He remembered Snape, his godfather, and the man that he would always be indebted to. The potions lessons, the homework and all of the other academic stuff. He could recall his petty rivalry with Harry and Ron, and the much more serious academic rivalry with Hermione. The jealousy that he had always felt when he had looked at them, a jealousy that was long gone.  
  
 But overshadowing that were the memories of the final battle. They could all see the bodies and the bloodshed in front of their eyes. The injuries that everyone had had, both mental and physical, injuries that had healed in their own cases despite the scars that they had left behind, injuries that still had to heal for most of the student body still present here.  
  
 The screams of pain and anguish, the terror at the thought of dying on that day. It was all coming back to them now. It was hard to look somewhere and not remember how dark and dreary it had been back then, how horrible it had been.  
  
 Hermione gripped Draco's hand tightly and he returned the pressure that she was applying. He could see the same things that she could when they looked somewhere.  
  
 "It's over now." He said softly and she looked up at him, snapping out of the trance that she had been threatening to fall into. He had always been better with dealing with these kinds of things. She was loath to say that it was because of experience, but it was. He was more used to dealing with emotional pain than she was merely because he had been experiencing it longer than she had.  
  
 He was smiling down at her, his eyes a soft silver.  
  
 She felt warmth flood through her as she lost herself in his eyes. While many things had been horrible back then, many good things had subsequently emerged from it, like their marriage. She didn't know what she would have done without him to heal those wounds. The wounds who had been so deep after finishing at Beauxbatons, that she was sure that she would never be alright again.  
  
 It had been one of the reasons as to why she had literally 'escaped' into the Parisian Muggle world. It had been so different from the Wizarding world that she had been able to relax ever so slightly and not see ghosts of the past at every single corner.  
  
 By being confronted with the image of the rebuilt school, they were finally able to lay that last piece of the past to rest and bury it. Peace filled all of them as the minutes stretched on into half an hour and knew that no matter what had happened, right now they were happy with where they were and that they truly wouldn't change a thing about their pasts as it would mean that they would have a different present.  
  
 "Mister Finnigan?" A squeaky voice asked and they all turned their heads to see Professor Flitwick standing there as he looked at one of his most horrendous students incredulously. Hermione knew that a lot of people would be getting shocked today as all four of them had changed rather significantly.  
  
 "And Mister Goyle, Mister Malfoy and Miss Granger too." The small professor looked practically ecstatic at seeing them all again. "It's good to see you all so well."  
  
 "Actually it's Mrs Malfoy now." Hermione said with a small smile as she briefly looked her husband in the eye before looking back at their old Charms professor. He was standing there with his mouth agape.  
  
 "Oh congratulations!" He grinned broadly. "It's so good to see that you two finally got together. I can collect my winnings from the others then." Professor Flitwick looked as if Christmas had come early.  
  
 "Wait, what do you mean, winnings?" Draco asked, his brows slightly furrowed.  
  
 "We had a betting pool back in the day, still do actually, about who would end up with who. Me, Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore were sure that the two of you would end up together." The small charms professor grinned broadly. "And you two got together - so I win! Excuse me, I need to go and tell Minerva about this, she will not believe me." Professor Flitwick crowed and then ran off, leaving them sitting there, feeling ever so slightly blindsided.  
  
 "They had a betting pool....." Hermione murmured.  
  
 "And they bet that the two of us would end up together back then....." Draco added, looking down at his wife.  
  
 "And we never even knew about it....." Greg felt completely surprised that the teachers had managed to keep it quiet with students like Fred and George Weasley around.  
  
 "This is amazing!" Seamus grinned. Diana laughed at the clear exuberance present on his face.  
  
 "Amazing?!" Hermione turned to Seamus with an incredulous expression on her face. "Our teachers were essentially matchmaking and you're saying that it's 'amazing'?"  
  
 "Yeah." Seamus grinned. "Just imagine how often they might have sat at that huge table and said, 'hey, wouldn't he look good with her?'. It's absolutely brilliant."  
  
 Draco and Greg burst out laughing while Hermione huffed in indignation. Diana looked amused.  
  
 "Looked good? You're lowering our teachers to the level of you?" She asked, but her eyes were dancing.  
  
 "My level?" Seamus put on an arrogant expression. "My level is so far above everyone else that no one else can ever hope to reach it." And he looked around the room imperiously. Hermione also began to laugh and that's how Professor McGonagall found them a couple of minutes later when she came rushing in, closely followed by Professor Flitwick and Hagrid.  
  
 "Hermione!" The old witch hugged her favourite student tightly, glad beyond belief that she was alive and well.  
  
 "Professor." Hermione smiled as she returned the embrace, equally happy to see her again. She had hoped to see her again quite a few times over the past decade but had always quickly squashed the thought as she believed that wishful thinking wouldn't get her anywhere.  
  
 "And Mister Malfoy and Mister Finnigan! And Mister Goyle too!" McGonagall smiled at them all softly, and Hermione swore that her eyes were shining ever so slightly from some unshed tears. No more words had to be said as her three boys smiled back at her, acknowledging the sentiment.  
  
 It was then that she truly realised just how affected everyone here had been by their absence during the ten weeks they had essentially been trapped here. They hadn't been able to get in or out and the four of them had been MIA with nobody knowing how to reach them.  
  
 In many ways it must have been truly terrifying.  
  
 As Hagrid greeted them all heartily (even Draco, who looked ever so slightly mystified by that), Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick whispered something to each other before nodding in agreement.  
  
 "Hermione, Mister- no, Draco," McGonagall eyes crinkled at the corners as they looked upon them in warmth, "I know that this might be sudden and that you yourselves have already graduated, but it would be a great honour if you could say a few words too."  
  
 "I mean no disrespect Professor, but why?" Draco enqired and Hermione could hear the underlying confusion.  
  
 "Originally, you two were meant to become our Headboy and Headgirl but because of the circumstances, you were unable to. I believe that it would be good for you to speak to everyone present here today, not only because you deserved those positions and therefore should also have the honour of the 'final speech', but because you both.....show the ability to look past old prejudices and move on from them. And that is something that quite a few of the students still need to internalise." The headmistress said seriously, without losing any of her warmth.  
  
 Hermione's eyes stung a little and she nodded. "I believe I speak for both of us when I say that it would be an honour." She looked over at her husband who nodded back at her, conveying his agreement.  
  
 "Thank you." McGonagall inclined her head ever so slightly. "If you will excuse me, I believe that I need to get a graduation started." Her eyes twinkled in a way that was so familiar that it made Hermione choke up. "I shall see you four later." And with that she was gone, Professor Flitwick and Hagrid following soon afterwards as the parents and other relatives and friends of those graduating began to slowly trickle in.  
  
 Draco's hand entwined with her own and Hermione squeezed her husband's hand gently, knowing that he knew what was going through her mind.  
  
 Wistful, that was how she was feeling. Not only had they lost the opportunity to finish their education with the rest of their friends, but they had also been cheated of opportunities that they had been looking forward to, in many ways, for their whole lives. All throughout her time at Hogwarts, she had dreamed of becoming Headgirl one day and she knew that her husband and fostered a similar hope within his own heart. The decade that the others had lost had created a chasm between them and Hermione was pretty sure that no matter how hard they tried, they would never be able to completely breach it.  
  
 She was a mother now, married for nearly eight years with four children. She was co-owner of one of the best potions companies in the world and two of her closest friends were also tying the knot soon. The other had just come from a messy divorce with two kids of his own while the last was a perpetually single and independent young woman who was oh-so career-driven. They had a whole decade between them and the war and while they might still bear the scars of that war, they had healed.  
  
 On the other side there were Harry, Ron, Ginny and the rest of those two years, finally graduating after, what was for them, a very recent end to the turbulent life of the last few years of their schooling. Their wounds were still open and bleeding and she knew that while they were getting along with them, the people that had once been her closest friends now no longer saw her as being part of their generation.  
  
 It was cruel but it was the reality of things and if there was one thing that Hermione had learnt from the war and had subsequently become quite good at, then it was at accepting the harsh truth of a situation and making do with it.

~.~.~.~.~

 "And now I call Mister and Missus Malfoy to the stage to say a few words." Murmurs and whispers erupted and rippled through the crowd and Hermione smiled in amusement as she and Draco got up. They had been garnering strange looks ever since the graduation had started but nobody had actually dared to speak to them. She knew that in many ways, she and Draco had changed physically too over the last decade so therefore the others had obviously not been that sure as to whether it really was them.  
  
 "I think they're expecting my parents." Draco murmured to her as they walked down the aisle to the podium at the front of the Great Hall.  
  
 "Well, we'll have to disappoint them then, won't we?" Hermione replied, her eyes sparkling with uncontained mirth.  
  
 Draco shot her an amused look as they walked up the steps. He was pretty sure that disappointment would be one of the last emotions that the students in front of them would be feeling once they were on stage.  
  
 "Hi everyone," Hermione greeted them all with a smile as she and Draco took their places behind the podium, "I'm pretty sure that a lot of you are confused right now and let me just reassure you that we are not Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy in disguise, although Malfoy is our last name."  
  
 "I'm Draco and this is Hermione and I'm pretty sure a lot of you do actually remember us as something more than just a fleeting image of your imagination." A titter went through the crowd as Draco began to speak. "Although a lot of you are probably surprised, Hermione is right, as always, in saying that our last name is Malfoy." He turned to look back at her. The silence that met them was deafening.  
  
 "It might be strange, but we are married, as outlandish as the concept may be." Hermione smiled as a couple of people chuckled in the audience. "Neither Draco nor I were in Hogwarts when the preservation spell hit the school due to differing reasons, so you can imagine our surprise when we suddenly found ourselves unable to return here afterwards."  
  
 "Both Hermione and I went on to Beauxbatons and finished our education there, graduating from it a good nine years ago." Draco continued on with the narrative. "Afterwards we both found ourselves in Muggle Paris where we met up again. To be completely and utterly honest we didn't actually find ourselves getting along at the start." Seamus coughed loudly from where he was sitting and Draco sent a look in his general direction.  
  
 "Which isn't really a surprise considering that we'd insisted on calling each other by nothing but our last names all throughout our time at school." Hermione smiled warmly as a couple of other people also laughed. Their hatred for one another had been well-known throughout the entire school. In fact, it had been one of the first things that Adele, a good friend of hers from Beauxbatons, had commented on the first time that she and Draco had taken a class together at the school.  
  
 "But then, about a year after the war had ended, on its anniversary in fact, we found ourselves together in a pub," they entwined their hands and smiled at each other before turning back to the audience which was now staring at them, completely enraptured, "Drinking what could only be our fifth or sixth glass of beer. It was then that we realised that hating each other just wasn't worth it. We'd fought on opposite sides of the war but both of us had lost so much during the course of it and afterwards."  
  
 "We realised that we were holding onto our hatred of one another merely to honour the memory of you guys." Hermione looked at them all, a sad look in her eyes. "We wanted to believe that by continuing to hate one another, to essentially treat each other as before, would return that sense of normalcy to us."  
  
 "One can get awfully insightful if one has a beer too many." Draco quipped and laughter rippled through the crowd.  
  
 "But it wasn't doing that." Hermione sent her husband a fond look. "Instead, we were limiting ourselves and passing up opportunities that would not only broaden our horizons on a professional level but on a personal one as well."  
  
 "And that night I said the one thing I'd never thought I'd ever say to Hermione Granger," Draco was grinning now, "And it was, 'If we manage to found a company together and not kill each other, will you go out on a date with me?'"  
  
 George and Bill were in tears in the crowd because they knew this story so well. In fact, once, when they had all had a glass of wine too many, Hermione and Draco had reenacted it to perfection. The two of them found it absolutely hilarious that this was essentially how their romantic relationship had started.  
  
 "And I said yes." Hermione shook her head as she let out a small laugh. "The next morning, after waking up, I remembered the whole promise and I set out to find Draco."  
  
 "And she did, waking me up from my much desired beauty sleep." Draco added with humour. "So there I was, with a massive headache from the night before, not really awake yet and she asks me when we want to start that company."  
  
 "Mind that this was after already spending three hours just trying to find his place." Hermione interjected.  
  
 "Yeah, so there was only one thing I could do and that was to ask her to give me ten minutes to get ready and then join me for breakfast."  
  
 "Best idea I'd heard all day." Hermione nodded emphatically.  
  
 "And it just went from there." Draco smiled at his wife. "Two months later we went on our first date and we've been together since." The look that he sent Hermione made Harry swallow heavily from his place in the sea of graduates. He'd never heard this story before and to be honest, it was completely blindsiding him. The love that was present between them was so tangible that it actually hurt to look at them.  
  
 He wondered whether he would ever have that with anyone. Whether he would ever be able to have it with Ginny. She was the only one that he could ever see himself having that with.  
  
 "And I know that the original point of getting us up here was to talk about moving on after the war and dealing with it as most of you listening to us talk are still a decade 'behind' so to speak." Draco had never been one for beating around the bush, that much was obvious even to the most oblivious in the crowd by now.  
  
 "But the truth of the matter is, we can't help you with that as it's different for everybody we know. For us, it helped to go into the Muggle world and really take some time off and spend our time and energy in healing. It was finding someone else who understood us on a level that we often didn't even understand ourselves on." Hermione shrugged her shoulders delicately.  
  
 "Nothing we will say or do will be that one thing that will help all of you so we're not going to even try and do that." Draco spoke next, his voice reaching even the furthest corners of the hall.  
  
 "But what we will say is 'thank you'. Thank you for allowing us to speak today although we aren't part of this graduating class anymore. Thank you for still thinking of us as such even though we have already moved on with our lives." Hermione's eyes looked slightly teary and her smile was bright.  
  
 "So all we can say is 'good luck' to all of you in all that you do. And that we want you to remember that no matter how hard it might seem, you will be able to master the challenges." Draco concluded.  
  
 "And to stop my husband from sounding uncharacteristically soppy because he will hate it if he does," Draco chuckled slightly as Hermione decided that she was going to have the last word, "Thank you for being such an amazing two year groups and well done in all that you have achieved so far. Not many can boast of the feats that you have accomplished and that you will be sure to accomplish. We hope to see you all around. Thank you." Hermione and Draco both gave a slight bow and walked down from the stage.  
  
 Applause followed them all the way back to their seats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the second one of today!


	9. The Summer That Followed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> McGonagall and Trelawney go on holiday and Pansy and Ron contemplate their future post Hogwarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I accidentally posted Chapter 8 ("Graduation") before Chapter 7 ("Meeting in Hogsmeade") yesterday so some of this chapter may not make sense without reading Chapter 7 first. Sorry!

Minerva smiled as she poured herself a cup of hot Earl Grey tea, remembering that she still had to get some lemon juice for the aforementioned cup of tea. Hogwarts had closed up for the holidays a good month ago and ever since she had been in Greece, enjoying the sunshine and the much milder climate of the Mediterranean.

She hadn't thought that she would be going to Greece of all places for her summer vacation, but after listening to Hermione's and Draco's speech at the graduation and talking to them about it afterwards had inspired her to literally take some time off and leave the country for a bit.

Draco had mentioned that Greece was a wonderful place to spend the summer as he and Hermione had apparently journeyed there in their first summer together as a married couple. They had loved it and Hermione had told her quite a few tales of the beautiful ancient ruins that they had visited and the gorgeous beaches.

So far, walks on those beaches and the sunshine were working wonders for her.

She hadn't actually believed that leaving England for an extended period of time would do her any good, but it actually had, as Sybill had also confirmed quite emphatically. The fact that the Divinations Professor was her companion on her vacation already told her how strange this all was. When the other woman had heard where she was heading for her summer vacation, she had asked whether it would be okay to join her and to her own surprise, she had said that it would be perfectly fine for her fellow colleague to join her.

While she didn't necessarily agree with the woman's chosen subject, she was quite an amusing person to spend some time with. She was completely and utterly eccentric and apparently took great joy in confusing the daylights out of some poor unsuspecting Muggles. She had borne witness to the spectacle several times now, where Sybill would look at a person, shake her head gravely and then proceed to tell them about their whole future. It was surprisingly amusing to watch the other professor do this as the poor fools fell for it over and over again.

It sort of went against her moral code to allow another professor under her leadership to act like that but as she had decided at the beginning of the summer to relax a bit and let go of past grievances so she had decided not to say anything about it.

And whether anything Sybill said was true or not was something that she wasn't even going to think about.

And now that she was essentially not arguing with her the whole time about whether her predictions were utter codswallop or not, she was actually getting along with her rather well. The Divinations Professor was surprisingly astute and insightful once one let her be and a rather good conversationalist on top of that.

The roaring flames of the fireplace caught her attention and she turned with a smile to see Kingsley's face appear in the flames. He was perfectly punctual, as always.

"Kingsley." She greeted his green face warmly.

"Minerva, how are you? How is Greece treating you?" The Minister appraised the sunhat hanging on her chair and the flowery dress that she was wearing. "I have to say that you look more relaxed than I have ever seen you."

"That is because I am more relaxed than I have been in a long time. I have to send my thanks to Hermione and Draco for suggesting this island because I believe that it has just become my new place for future vacations." She took a sip of her tea, glad that it was now a bit less hot.

"I'm sure that they will be glad to hear it." Kingsley nodded.

"They are in France at the moment, are they not?" She asked next, knowing that whyever he had called her would be addressed sooner or later anyway.

"They are. They kept their house there and go there every summer and Christmas with the whole family."

"Lucius and Narcissa too?" She had been quite surprised to find that Hermione seemingly got along quite well with her in-laws.

"Yes. And as I understand it, Mister Finnigan frequents their house with his children quite often, as do Mister Goyle and his fiancée."

"She's your secretary, right?" She took another sip from her tea. She remembered the porridge that they had enjoyed for breakfast that morning and that it had been a little dry for her tastes. Some milk would probably have made it taste even better. She would have to remember to remind Sybil of that later.

"Yes, she transferred to our Ministry three years ago. She's, quite frankly, the best secretary that I've had since starting this job."

"Are you running for Minister again once your term is up?" She queried, getting up briefly to check whether they still had any milk for tomorrow morning and noting that it was nearly empty. They would have to get some new milk this afternoon then.

"Probably, I still have quite a bit that I want to achieve. But that's not why I flooed you."

"No, I didn't think it was." Ah, they were finally getting to the crux of the matter.

Kingsley looked faintly amused. "The aurors have been investigating who or what caused the preservation spell."

"Have they found anything?" She leaned forward slightly, her posture still remaining upright.

"Not yet, but I thought that I should tell you that we are close. Aurors Goyle and Hatcher found a tracing or rather monitoring spell on the preservation spell. Apparently a former Minister believed that the spell could be used in a bad way so he had the auror department implement a sort of tracing spell on it."

"And we cannot have that for the Imperius, Cruciatus or the Killing Curse?" Minerva asked, feeling slightly unnerved that the Ministry was able to monitor the spell. It felt a bit too much like control.

"No as the auror who originally invented the spell died before he was able to tell anyone else how to cast it. The monitoring spell is currently on three different spells and one of them is the preservation spell. As you know, the florists have to get the permission of the Ministry to use those spells in large quantities."

"Yes." She leaned back now, to rest in the comfortable chair once more.

"Well, records are kept here at the Ministry of who, or rather, which wand casts the spell. So now the aurors are going through the records to find out who it was. Soon you will be able to know who it was."

"Thank you Kingsley." She felt relieved. While losing a decade hadn't been so hard on her due to her already advanced age, she knew that especially the younger ones desired to know who was to blame for the whole situation.

"I'll see you after your vacation Minerva, enjoy the rest of it." He nodded his goodbye.

"I shall meet you for tea afterwards." She graced him with a smile.

With a small puff of green flames his face vanished into the embers and she allowed herself to lean back completely in the chair.

It would be good to know why they had been put under that spell, it was the one thing that she couldn't quite comprehend. What would anyone gain by 'preserving' them in essence? Her mind failed to supply her with a rational answer and it irritated her.

"You're thinking too hard again." Sybill said as she gracefully plopped herself down in the chair opposite the small table.

"I do not think 'too hard'." She replied rather indignantly.

"You do, my dear. I can see it by the lines on your face." The Divinations Professor cast an eye over her brow.

"Please refrain from trying to read my future from my brow." She replied with a raised eyebrow. She may tolerate Sybill doing it with others but she had absolutely no desire to experience the divinations herself. Whether accurate or not, she did not want to know about her future in advance.

"One reads the future from the hands and not the brow." Sybill poured herself a cup of tea. "And I know that you have no desire for me to tell you yours."

"That doesn't seem to stop you from reading the children's." Minerva lifted the cup to her lips once more.

"Their futures are so flexible that it does not really matter what I say to them anyway." The Divinations Professor sounded slightly dismissive. "And the least of them have any regard for my art anyway so they do not deserve any proper divinations."

"You just enjoy scaring them." Minerva had figured out, around the second week into their vacation, that Sybill enjoyed pretending to be completely batty. Apparently she was left alone to her own devices more frequently then, as well as other teachers not entrusting her with too many responsibilities such as overlooking detentions which Minerva knew to be horribly tedious.

"Maybe." A mysterious twinkle lit up the other woman's eyes and Minerva chuckled drily.

"Filius sent a letter by the way. He's found some new teaching methods over in the States that he finds absolutely fascinating. He wants to go over them with you before the years starts because he thinks that they might do the children some good." Sybill commented after a couple of minutes of silence.

"We shall see." She looked out of the window and took note of the gentle breeze blowing. "What about Pomona and Hagrid? Have we heard anything from them?"

"Hagrid's still in France as far as I know with Madame Maxime and Pomona wrote something about the third greenhouse coming along just fine. She's already managed to get the second one up and running again."

"That is good to hear." Minerva set down her cup and continued to watch the sunlight dancing on the terrace.

"We need to get some new milk." Sybill stated half an hour later, just as she had been beginning to doze off.

"We do." She concurred.

"Should we go now?" The Divinations Professor was already on her feet, getting her shawl.

"We should." Minerva got up and stretched slightly.

She really should have done something like this ages ago. She really would have to thank Draco and Hermione for giving her the idea.

~.~.~.~.~

Pansy fingered the edge of her shirt nervously as she waited for Ron to appear. They had decided that they would be meeting up for lunch in Muggle London today, in some Italian place that Hermione had recommended they visit. And despite having now been dating Ron for nearly four months, the longest that she'd ever been with anyone, she still got nervous when they went out together on dates.

Luna called it adorable, she just found it plain annoying.

"Pansy!" Ron's voice broke her out of her musings and she looked up to see him walking towards her. He must have apparated into some alleyway instead of taking the usual way through the Leaky Cauldron. Which she understood perfectly considering that he, along with Harry and Hermione, were considered practically wizarding royalty around here.

She now knew why Hermione and Draco had lived in France until nearly three years ago and why they still insisted on living so far away from other people and in the Muggle world as opposed to the wizarding one. The journalists had become even more terrifying in the last decade.

"Ron." She smiled slightly, her eyes lighting up. Ron admired what on her face was a full-blown grin. He knew that Pansy wasn't one for showing her emotions excessively and he was happy that he of all people was able to make her so happy. He sometimes felt as though he really didn't deserve her, a concept that she had quickly shot down once she had heard of it.

Apparently it was her that didn't deserve him and not the other way around; something that he found just as ridiculous. They had hence agreed that since they both found the other's notions ridiculous, they were and ever since then he had quashed the thought as soon as it had come up.

They kissed briefly, as a way of greeting, before walking down the street with their hands entwined. Both were awed by how well they managed to get along, despite their occasional spats and appreciated the easy nature of their relationship.

"What's the matter?" She knew that something was bugging him and decided to ask outright, her boyfriend would only brood on the matter otherwise, it was simply who he was.

"It's Harry." He muttered and she sighed, now knowing where this conversation would be going. It was a conversation that they'd been having the whole summer and to be frank, they were getting sick of it.

"He's still mad?" She had known that Ron's family wouldn't be happy, but she had expected Harry to be a bit more understanding.

"Yeah." Ron nodded and sighed. "He doesn't understand why we'd want to go to Japan of all places."

"Well, for one, it's far away. Two, because we've got job offers there. And three, nearly nobody knows us." Pansy listed, sounding slightly exasperated.

"I know that Pansy, after all, I decided to move there too. But Harry doesn't seem to understand why we don't want to stay in England." Ron ran a hand through his hair, clearly annoyed.

"And with him." Pansy stated, her lips slightly pinched.

"Yeah." Ron let out another frustrated sigh. "I mean, we'll still be in touch and all but I really need a break. I need to find my own place on my own two feet. And that won't happen here where all I'm known as is 'Harry Potter's best friend' and 'one of the Weasley kids'."

"He's still not coping, is he?" Pansy asked softly, knowing that this was what was probably really worrying her boyfriend.

"Yeah." Ron deflated a bit, pulling her closer in the process. "You should see him Pans, he's literally building Grimauld Place from scratch again. He tore down one of the walls with his hands two days ago and is clearing away the rubble manually. Manually, Pans. He's a bloody wizard and he's doing it with his hands." Ron shook his head in exasperation.

"It's his way of coping." She reminded him softly.

"I know, but he's been 'coping' like this for nearly two months now. He only leaves the house in order to get food or come to the Burrow, otherwise he remains holed up in there. And Gin's not much better. She's literally driving mum insane by doing circuits around the house on her broom." Ron's eyes lit up as they reached the restaurant and the ordering of the food distracted them from the conversation for a couple of minutes.

As always, they faithfully returned back to it though.

"They'll be fine, Ron. And if not, we're always going to be a floo call away." She put her hand on his and he smiled softly, nodding and deciding to let the conversation rest. It wouldn't be going anywhere anyway.

"So, have you decided on whether we should have a T.V. or not yet?" He asked and she took the bait knowingly as the flow of the conversation turned to their new appartment in Kyoto.

Three weeks ago, Hermione had told the two of them about a job opportunity over in Japan. She had stumbled upon it by chance when she and Draco had gone there in order to check whether opening up a branch of Stellar Potions in Tokyo would be profitable or not. She had told all of them about it, but Harry had shot it down immediately, saying that he didn't want to leave England. Luna had already gained a position as an apprentice to Doctor Lorcan Scamander, son of the famous Newton Scamandar, and would be off to Brazil once the summer was over in order to assist the man on his journey of continuing his father's chronicles of magical beasts.

Blaise, on the other hand, was starting a job in the Department of Mysteries, something that Ron would have pegged Luna for actually. And while neither Blaise nor Luna were particularly happy with being seperated, Luna had already secured herself a job as a magizoologist should she complete her year's training with Doctor Scamander.

Therefore the two of them weren't interested in going anywhere else. And Ginny's reaction had been the same as Harry's; she hadn't had any intention of leaving England at all, despite not even having a job offer yet at the time.

She and Ron, on the other hand, had been intrigued by the offer. It was from a small Japanese restaurant, run by one of Hermione's friends from her time in Beauxbatons. What she needed were two people that could speak fluent English as the restaurant was often frequented by British tourists. What was special about it though was the fact that they had to genuinly be able to speak English as the Japanese Ministry had decreed that in areas where there were a lot of Muggles, magic was completely prohibited. Therefore translation spells were out of the question. The Ministry had decided to impose this rule after one Muggle too many had accidentally stumbled upon their society.

So they would essentially be living like Muggles for a lot of the time.

Ron had been delighted by the idea as he had obviously taken Hermione's and Draco's words to heart. That coupled with his reputation here in England resting pretty much solely on other people had caused him to take the offer after a good week of deliberation. Pansy had also jumped at the opportunity because she really needed to get away from England. Former death eaters were still a hated group of people here in England and she couldn't go out onto the streets in the wizarding world without either being accosted by a reporter or someone who had lost a loved one to the war.

To be perfectly honest, she was completely sick of it.

And then there was the whole thing with Lavender.

While she had accepted that Ron was planning on playing a part in Lavender's life due to their unborn child, she did not like the way that Lavender was currently acting. The other woman had practically moved into the Burrow after being denounced by her family for her unwillingness to marry Ron (as well as his outright refusal to) which was understandable. Not understandable, however, was the way that she was playing nice with the rest of the Weasleys, which was in essence undermining her position as Ron's girlfriend. Ron was equally uncomfortable with Lavender always being so close so therefore the job in Japan would give both of them the required distance from the whole situation. They would be returning for the birth of Ron's child and Ron would drop by at least once a month to see the boy or girl.

Which was another thing that Ron was annoyed about. Lavender was refusing to find out the gender of the child, insisting on being surprised when the child was born while Ron clearly wanted to know. It was becoming more and more clear that Lavender was monopolizing her position as the mother, which Pansy found understandable, as in many ways the unborn child was the only thing that Lavender could really call her own at this point.

"I'm looking forward to it." Ron said as they walked out of the restaurant after their meal two hours later.

"So am I. I think we need it." Pansy said softly and Ron nodded, his hand entwined with hers once more.

"As much as I hate to admit it, the ferret was right in saying that this place is amazing." Ron muttered a couple of minutes later and Pansy snorted in amusement. Ron still disliked her best friend immensely, just like she felt some lingering traces of dislike for Hermione. They had been on opposite sides for so long that it was simply the way they worked. She was sure that it was the same for Draco and Hermione.

"It was rather good." Pansy conceded, deciding not to call him out on his use of the name 'ferret'.

"They're moving back to France, aren't they?" Ron asked as they turned another corner.

"Yeah." Pansy nodded. "They've managed to open up the branch here in England successfully and Finnigan is staying here to run the unit here. Draco says that they miss France too much and lately he's been called over quite a few times as there have been issues in the headquarters there. And he absolutely hates travelling by floo frequently." She was glad that she and Draco had been able to renew their friendship. After last Christmas she had thought it would be impossible. "Why?"

"One of the things Harry mentioned when I saw him earlier." Ron said.

"He'll be fine. He just needs some time to adjust." Pansy repeated.

"I'm just worried Pans. With you and me moving away in two weeks and Hermione going back to France next month, his best friends will be gone. And Luna's off to Brazil and Blaise's gonna be busy in the Department of Mysteries. And Gin's starting her training with the Holyhead Harpies so we're all going to be all over the place." Ron looked genuinely distressed.

"But don't forget that Harry's starting his new job at the auror office too which will keep him more than busy and out of the house for quite a number of hours during the day. And he'll still be seeing Doctor Reed once a fortnight, just like the rest of us are." The psychiatrist that Kingsley had forced them all to see really was helping, at least he was helping her, and Pansy was sure that Harry would be fine.

He was the man who'd defeated Voldemort after all.

And anyway, she was sure that they would all be fine again at some point in the future, now that they actually had one to look forward to again.

~.~.~.~.~

Tonks sighed heavily as she sat down next to her husband's bed while Teddy flitted around the place, happily changing the colour of both his hair and eyes at will. She had accidentally lost control over her abilities when Remus had woken from his coma three days ago and Teddy had apparently found it so 'cool' that he was now trying to change his own features as fast as humanly possible.

It still astounded her, even after getting to know and living with her son for over half a year now, that he had such a good control over his metamorphic abilities. She had been terrified, before meeting him, that he would view his powers as a curse, as she also had when she had been younger.

Teddy loved every bit about his powers though, showing off to her and her mother at every chance that he got. It was fascinating to watch him experiment with his powers to the extent that he did.

"Tonks." Remus' voice was raspy from misuse and she smiled gently down at him as she reached for his hand. She clasped it tightly between her own and his own smile was faint.

"Remus." She looked over him, attempting to see whether anything had changed.

"I'm fine, getting better slowly." He answered her unasked question and both turned their heads when Teddy's giggle met their ears. He was making faces at his own reflection in the window.

Both felt a mixed sense of awe and regret flow through them as they watched their son enjoy himself. It was hard to live with the knowledge that they had missed out on such a substantial part of their son's life but it was something that they were slowly getting used to. He was such a bundle of energy and it made them smile just to look at him.

They would be just fine.

Remus had woken up and was slowly beginning to walk down the path to recovery. She had regained her job as an auror at the Ministry and Teddy was going to start Hogwarts next year. Things were going at a snail's pace but they were getting there. Finally.


	10. Life Resumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione and Draco become unwitting therapists. Or rather, continue to be. This was a part of adulthood that no-one told them about, goddammit.

"It's for you." The mumbled groan of her husband had Hermione blinking owlishly as she yawned and got up. When they had moved back to France a good two months ago, they had told everyone that they were free to pop over anytime should they have any problems. Which wasn't actually a problem within itself.

What they hadn't taken into account though, was that apparently people had a lot more problems than they anticipated and that they wanted to solve these problems at any time in the day.

Or night, as was now once again the case. Draco had already resolved to block their floo between nine in the evening and five in the morning so that they would be able to get at least some sleep, but then Narcissa had been in an accident and due to their floo being blocked Lucius had been unable to reach them so now it was open all hours of the day once again.

And turning out to be quite a pain.

"Whoever's there better be bleeding out all over my carpet because I swear if you've woken me up at two in the morning for something trivial like clothes then my carpet will still get to see a lot of blood." Hermione announced as she finally made it to their reception room in the small manor that they inhabited in France.

She sighed when she saw Harry.

"Harry, are you bleeding and or dying right now?" She asked tiredly as she fell onto the sofa, not caring that she was nothing even close to graceful at the moment.

"It's Ginny." He replied, looking completely and utterly frazzled as he paced up and down their beautiful carpet.

It really was a rather gorgeous carpet. It would be such a waste to kill Harry and then have to clean the blood out of the carpet afterwards.  
  
It wasn't worth it. Maybe tea would help curb her current murderous line of thought?

"What happened this time?" Hermione cursed the heavens above as she prepared to listen to another round of complaints, worries and the like from Harry. Hadn't he just been here a week ago with the same problem?

"Nothing and I don't know what to do about it." Was Harry's reply and Hermione's brows shot upwards.

"Nothing?" She asked, knowing that the incredulity in her own voice was obvious. Because really, if there wasn't a problem then why had he woken her up at this ungodly hour? The ppossible stains in the carpet were becoming more trivial by the second.

"I've tried everything 'Mione, from giving flowers to chocolates to going out to dinner with her and still, nothing! I've tried everything I know!" Harry was looking like he was about to have a literal breakdown and Hermione sighed.

"Let me get some tea. And sit down while you wait for me." She told him, commanded him rather, as she walked from the room and got herself some tea. Yes, tea was needed. The murderous thoughts needed to be stopped and pronto at that.  
  
While waiting for the water to boil, she thought about Harry's and Ginny's relationship ever since they had returned from the 'bubble'.

It was frustrating to say the least. She knew, as both of them confided in her, that they still cared immensely about the other person and would be willing to enter a relationship again. But what Ginny wanted from Harry was something that he currently wasn't giving. She wanted to hear, from his mouth, that he still cared for her and that he wanted to give a relationship with her another try. She didn't want the flowers or the dinners right now, she wanted an apology for all that he had put her through.

And for god's sake, she'd tried to hint at it to Harry that this was what Ginny wanted but she wasn't sure whether Harry was being purposefully obtuse or whether he just wasn't getting it, but he really needed to be blatantly obvious when talking to Ginny, and stop trying to covertly woo her.

The sad thing was that it wasn't even so covert. Even Draco was two steps away from shoving them together in a room until they had sorted out their problems. And this was her husband they were talking about, the one that normally absolutely refused to even consider helping in her matchmaking schemes.

It was that bad.

She took the steaming cup of tea and took it back to the room that Harry was waiting in. No, wait, pacing in.

"I thought I told you to sit down." Hermione commented drily as she herself sat down on the big plushy armchair that she absolutely adored. Maybe being comfortable would make her less irritable about all of this.

"What should I do, Hermione?" He asked again and Hermione was pretty sure that it wouldn't matter if she did actually fall asleep because apparently none of her words were reaching Harry.

"Apologise to her." Okay, so maybe she wanted to sleep more than be careful with Harry's feelings.

"Apologise?" Harry's brow furrowed and Hermione groaned and sank lower in her chair. He wasn't being purposefully obtuse but he genuinely didn't know what she was talking about.

"Yes, apologise. You know, that thing where one says 'sorry'?" She couldn't help but be slightly sarcastic right now. Ella had woken her and Draco up only an hour before Harry had arrived so she was literally running on practically no sleep right now.  
  
Ah, the joys of being a parent. This wasn't her first rodeo but at this stage it didn't matter.  
  
Blast it, she was tired.

"But why? What did I do?" Harry began pacing again.

"You broke up with her and told her that it was because of the war. Then, when the war was over, you didn't get back together with her. That normally tends to make a girl think that you've split up with her for another reason." Hermione looked at her best friend and marvelled at his cluelessness. "You really don't know this?"

"No! I mean- why would I? I thought that she knew-" Harry began.

"Knew what?" Hermione took a sip from her tea.

"That I love her!" Harry exclaimed.

"Three points to Potter for stating the obvious." Her husband's tired voice came from the doorway and both of them turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?" Harry looked at Draco with a mix of annoyance and confusion.

"Potter, even I knew, long before you and the Weaslette got together, that you two were in love with each other." Draco yawned and blinked a couple of times. "Still are, in fact, if the complaining that you two do is any indication of it. Just do us all a favour and tell her that you love her and that you're sorry about dumping her because of your own insecurities. If not for your own sake, then do it for ours. You're keeping us awake more than our own infant daughter is with this issue. Get over it already."

Hermione was pretty happy to say that after that, Harry remained gobsmacked for a couple of minutes, doing a most marvellous goldfish impression. A wonderfully silent goldfish impression. And then he went back home, hopefully to think about what she and Draco had said and then to finally talk to Ginny properly.

But that was secondary. For now, she was heading back to her husband in bed.  
  
Sweet, sweet blissful sleep at least.

~.~.~.~.~

Ella woke them up two hours later.

~.~.~.~.~

"Draco?" The call came through the house and Draco looked up from the carrot that he had been slicing.

"In the kitchen!" He called back, knowing that Blaise would find him in the kitchen.

"I still can't get over the fact that you do most of the cooking in this household." Blaise's amused voice drifted into the room from the doorway and Draco looked up briefly to see his friend standing there with a smug look on his face. "I always knew that if you got married, then you would be completely whipped."

"Hermione practically does all of the baking." He responded, not even addressing the second statement. He knew that it was true anyway. "What brings you here?"

"I miss Luna." Blaise shrugged.

"So you decided to come and bug me?" Draco pushed the carrots into the pot where the stew was cooking and moved onto the celery.

"Yeah. Why do you do the cooking without magic anyway?" Blaise asked as he sat down at the table, watching his best friend begin chopping the celery into very thin, precise stripes.

"It's therapeutic. Allows me to think while my hands work. And I enjoy it." Draco shrugged slightly, not bothering to look up this time.

"Therapeutic?" Blaise's brow furrowed.

"Yeah. After the war, and after graduating from Beauxbatons, I spent a whole year in Muggle Paris without a wand. It was part of my parole. During that time, I worked first as a waiter, and then as a cook in a small restaurant. That's where I learned to cook. I haven't stopped since."

"Never imagined you to be one to find solace in cooking of all things." Blaise commented, playing with a spoon that had been lying on the table.

"Neither did I." Draco smiled slightly. "That's the strange thing though, I genuinely enjoy it. In the beginning it reminded me of our potions classes and therefore of Severus," He paused slightly and Blaise didn't comment, knowing that the loss of his godfather still stung, "But slowly, over time it became something that signified a new life to me. The food was something that _I_ was making with my own hands and strangely enough, it gave me a sense of accomplishment."

Blaise hummed slightly to acknowledge the answer and they fell silent again, the only sounds coming from a small Muggle radio standing in the corner of the kitchen.

Ten minutes later, Blaise spoke again.

"I wanted to ask Luna to move in with me when she returns in November." Blaise said quietly and Draco continued chopping the onion into squares.

"And?" There was going to be more to this than Blaise was letting on.

"I want it to be a surprise." Blaise stated next.

Draco looked up and raised an eyebrow at him.

"But I don't know if she wants to move in." Blaise practically whispered and Draco sighed. Yes, in the past, everyone had thought that he was the one with commitment issues because he rarely stayed together with someone for more than two weeks. But actually, Blaise was the one with those issues and now, seperated from Luna because of their jobs, they were coming to light.

Growing up with a mother that divorced her husband's as quickly as the weather was bound to change in the tropics tended to do that to someone.

"Why wouldn't she?" Draco asked calmly, considering the best approach to the subject. Blaise feared rejection on a personal level even more than he had because his mother had never been around and accepted him for who he was. She rarely even acknowledged him after the death of his father.

"Why would she?" Blaise countered and Draco sent his friend a look at the rather obvious avoidance of the question asked.

"For one, because you love her." Blaise's spluttering, as commented on by the inner voice of his wife, was almost adorable. "Secondly, because you've been in an exclusive relationship for nearly nine months and have even agreed on staying together and trying it long distance. Thirdly, because it's the next logical step in the relationship. And then of course there's this thing with you probably already having thought about asking her to marry you but you're currently too chicken to do so, so you're settling on asking her to move in with you." Draco explained rather calmly and turned up the flames on the oven, keeping a careful eye out for any bubbling. He didn't want the stew to overcook after all.

"When did you become a psychic?" Blaise finally managed to choke out.

"When I got married to one of the most insightful women out there. It probably doesn't help that my kids are too intelligent for their own good so I have to be extra observant to make sure that they don't accidentally stumble upon any information that they're too young to receive." Draco tasted the stew and decided that it still needed quite a bit of salt. Maybe some pepper too.

"But..." Blaise trailed off and Draco stirred the stew some more, looking up at his friend this time.

"Blaise, this is Luna Lovegood we're talking about here. She's not going to run off screaming for the hills just because you genuinely care for her and decide to express that by asking her to move in as opposed to actually telling her. Which I do advise you to do at some point by the way. And she's also not going to run off just because you have quite a few insecurities that you still have to work through. She's not your mother, she's not going to run away like she did every time someone tried to get close to her."

He was confident in saying this because he had come to know Luna quite well over the summer. While Blaise and Luna may have visited them quite a few times together in France over the summer vacation, she had also popped by unexpectedly a couple of times herself. Draco had the sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the empty house that she had inherited from her father that no longer housed any life but her own.

During the times that she'd been there alone, Hermione had been working for most of them so the two of them had begun talking, often while he cooked and she played with one of the children. Over the course of those conversations, they had become friends of sorts and he had warned her that she should be careful with Blaise as he was quite a bit more fragile than his bravado let on. To his reassurance and immense relief, she had smiled at him dreamily and told him that she knew that and that she was merely waiting for Blaise to come to her with those problems in his own time.

Really, there was no one better for Blaise than Luna and although he'd never said it to his friend, Blaise would receive hell from him if he hurt Luna in some form or manner. He had become rather fond of the young woman ever since their friendship had started.

"Thanks mate." Blaise nodded and got up, walking to the door.

"Don't forget to ask her!" Draco called in farewell.

Blaise smiled and waved and Draco knew that they would be moving in together once Luna returned. Once Blaise had made up his mind, he pulled through whatever the cost. It really was one of his more admirable qualities.

~.~.~.~.~

"How's Japan treating you?" Hermione asked as Ron pushed his and Pansy's luggage in front of them as they walked out of the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Pansy and Draco were walking in front of them, with Pansy happily chatting to Draco as he maneuvered them through the busy crowd.

"Quite good." Ron grinned as he briefly stopped to let a small kid pass before resuming his trek through the masses of people. "Brilliant actually. I didn't think that giving up magic for a year would actually help."

Hermione chuckled softly and Ron turned to grin at her. She marvelled at how much better off he was already looking. Two months in Japan and he was already looking more healthy than before. He had filled out, returning more to his stockier frame. His eyes were still haunted but they were no longer flitting around, looking for threats in every shadow. He was getting there and Hermione felt tears gathering at the corners of her eyes at the visible evidence of it.  
  
They had all been through so much.

"So you're actually doing this?" Hermione asked, sidestepping another running child.

"Yeah. I mean, it's hard sometimes, to not just whip out your wand and do something but the strict rules in Japan are actually helping. We can't use any magic in public at all and at work and doing that makes it easier to avoid it at home too." Ron shrugged. "And I never thought I'd say this but your husband was right. Being forced to do a lot of things manually is actually quite therapeutic."

Hermione laughed outright at that. "Don't tell him that though," She said with a conspiratorial wink, "It'll only cause his ego to swell up even more." Ron looked faintly amused at that and Hermione felt glad to see that his former spark was finally returning. While he had been slowly recovering after being released from the 'bubble', and Pansy had definitely helped, it had been frighteningly slow. Now, however, it seemed as if he was recovering properly, even laughing again.

It was good to see.

"What'll cause my ego to swell even more?" Draco asked, looking most definitely amused as he glanced between his wife and Ron.

"Nothing, darling." She replied and kissed him on the cheek before getting into the car.

"And how're you finding Japan?" She asked once Draco had started the car and reversed out of the parking lot.

"It's great." Pansy beamed, looking a lot more relaxed than she had two months ago. "I have to say that I now see why some people prefer to live like Muggles, it certainly has its charms and perks." She smiled at that in amusement and Hermione could really see the growth that the young woman had undergone. A year ago, she was pretty certain that Pansy Parkinson wouldn't have been caught dead saying that.

"I do miss using magic sometimes but we've decided that we're going to try it. Doctor Reed said that it might be a bit extreme when we told him of our decision but when he flooed over to see us last month he was astonished at how well it was working for us. Considering that it was a spontaneous decision to completely give up magic for a year, I'd say we're doing pretty well." Pansy continued.

"Although I have to say that flying by plane is horrible." Ron looked slightly green just at the thought. "I don't like flooing anywhere, especially long distances, but it's much better than flying by plane." He shook his head vigorously. "One thing that I will not miss should we start using magic again next year."

Pansy chuckled, as did Draco and Hermione. Ron obviously hated flying and Draco had to say that he agreed. The mere thought of sitting in a metal contraption, several hundred kilometres above the earth's surface made even him queasy.

"Other than that, we're loving Japan. Ron's eating his way through the food-" Pansy began.

"And it's bloody brilliant." Ron interrupted, causing his girlfriend to roll her eyes at him. "I never thought that I'd like fish and prawns and seafood so much but the way they prepare it..." He trailed off, getting that slightly dreamy look in his eyes whenever he thought of good food.

"We basically lived off of ramen for the first month as neither of us knew how to cook." Pansy stated, seeing as Ron was currently lost in his own little world of food. "But Keiko-chan, the daughter of our landlady, has been teaching us over the past month and I have to say that it's really quite fascinating how different their cuisine and cooking methods are to our own."

"You didn't use any magic at all?" Hermione queried, glancing back at Pansy and Ron.

"No, although we were sorely tempted to. I mean, just setting up the telephone took us a whole week. Thankfully Keiko-chan and Yuki-san, her mother, helped us with the television. We'd probably still be fighting with it otherwise." Ron added. "Actually, where did you learn to drive Malfoy? I never pegged you as someone who could drive." His mind flashed back to that horrible incident with the flying car in their second year. He'd been unable to look at cars the same ever since.

"Cecilia and Laurent made me learn how to drive. They were two of my colleagues in the restaurant here in Paris during my parole and they found it to be a 'damn shame' to not be able to drive. Hence they took it upon themselves to teach me and to get me to driving lessons." Draco replied, keeping a careful eye on the road in order to not miss his exit from the A1.

"They're actually the godparents of Ella. They're completely Muggle though, so they don't know anything about magic but they're good friends and we talk to them over the phone once a fortnight. They got married three years ago, didn't they?" Hermione turned to her husband and he nodded, blinking right and then switched lanes as their exit was coming up.

"Ah okay. Thank you for allowing us to stay with you by the way." Pansy said, watching the fields streak past them.

"No problem at all. The manor's more than large enough." Hermione smiled.

"Yeah, still, thanks." Ron nodded at Draco through the mirror and he nodded back, acknowledging the other man's gratitude. They were still not close enough to see eye-to-eye but Draco had been quite helpful in getting them settled in, flooing over a couple of times within the first week. And for that Ron was grateful even if both men knew that they were getting along more for the sake of Hermione and Pansy than for the sake of actually getting along.

Nevertheless, a truce had been made and an agreement between them reached.

"Your Mum's still not speaking with you?" Hermione asked and Pansy looked at Ron sympathetically as he grimaced.

"Yeah. She's still mad that I moved to Japan. She got even more mad when she heard that the only way to reach us would be over a phone as we were 'going Muggle'. Then, on top of that, she's annoyed that I've not been here for the past two months of Lavender's pregnancy although she knows that she and I aren't together anymore." Ron sighed. Hermione sent him a sympathetic look as well.

"You're flooing over from our place for the birth though, right?" Hermione asked, noticing that Draco was looking slightly annoyed by the driver next to them who was obviously trying to race with someone behind them.

"Yeah. She's due in two weeks but I've asked dad to send me a patronus should she go into labour earlier. I talked to him last month and he caught me up on everything back at the Burrow. Have you heard from Gin yet?"

"I talked to her six weeks ago, before she went on her first training camp with the Holyhead Harpies. Since then she's been too busy training but I think that she gets the weekend off this week." Hermione replied.

"I haven't heard from her at all. I think she's as mad as Mum. Harry called us two weeks ago though, I think we're meeting for some drinks next week." Ron said, looking slightly more happy at the fact that he and Harry had managed to get over their argument of Ron leaving the country. "We talked to George last week though, he said that Fred's started dating someone?" He looked at Hermione and Draco for confirmation.

"Yeah, a girl he met at the shop four weeks ago called Isabella. She's Italian I think. Or maybe half-Italian." Hermione mused.

"Yeah, George mentioned that Mum's not too happy about us all going off and getting together with foreigners. According to her, 'what's wrong with a normal English girl?' It probably doesn't help that Audrey's American." Ron snickered slightly as he thought of Percy's girlfriend, who was so different to his brother that it was amazing that they had been together for nearly half a year.

"Your Mum certainly doesn't have it easy with all of you flying the nest at the same time." Hermione agreed.

"I think that's her main problem. That everything's changing so fast. At least, that's what Dad thinks." Ron said as Draco finally managed to leave the A1 via their exit.

"Yeah, with Charlie off in Romania, you in Japan and Bill and George married, it really only leaves Percy, Fred and Ginny to constantly pop by. But Percy's busy with his job and Fred's busy inventing again and Ginny's now off on her training camp so that she can become a starter for the season, so she really has to come to terms that her babies have flown the nest." Hermione stated, feeling melancholy as she thought that one day all of her children would be doing the same. Draco sent her a knowing look.

"So, what's for dinner today?" Ron's question a couple of minutes later sent Pansy and Hermione into fits of laughter and Draco smiling in amusement.

Some things never changed.

~.~.~.~.~

As the floo roared to life, Hermione looked up in confusion. Ron had been coerced by Pansy to join her as Draco showed her around their company headquarters here in France, so it couldn't be any of them as they had only left twenty minutes ago. And she wasn't actually expecting anyone else. She wiped her hands on the rag that she had been using to clean the stove and sighed as she saw that they were still greasy. Oh well, it would have to do.

"Hermione?" The voice that greeted her was one that she had, admittedly, not expected at all.

"Lavender?" Seriously, what was it with their house and people coming here. Just yesterday Adriana had popped by, with a screaming Sean and Connal in tow, completely at her wit's end because she hadn't known how to calm them down. Seamus had asked her whether she would mind looking after them and she had said that she wouldn't mind at all, she had only forgotten that three year old twins were prone to crying.

An hour and a lot of advice later, she had left, more reassured and calmed down than when she had arrived. The twins loved her, but that didn't change the fact that when one bumped their head, the other began crying too in an attempt to pull the attention to the fact that their twin was hurt.

That plan normally only resulted in the person watching them becoming even more confused as to which twin actually required their attention.

In that moment however, her attention was completely concentrated on Lavender who looked like she was about to suffer a breakdown.

She stuffed the greasy rag between her belt and her trousers and walked forward, carefully guiding the other woman to the couch and sitting her down.

"What happened?" She asked, seeing that she was still very much pregnant so therefore it was probably not something to do with the child directly in that moment.

At those words, Lavender broke down completely however and Hermione had to admit that she was a bit at a loss as to what to actually do with the crying woman. She eventually settled for rubbing soothing circles on her back, remembering how much she had appreciated Draco doing it during her pregnancy.

"I'm sorry." Lavender finally managed to choke out. "I don't know what came over me." She sniffled a bit and Hermione passed her some tissues.

"It's fine." She said softly, not ceasing with rubbing Lavender's back. "What happened?" She repeated her question from before.

"I don't know what to do." Lavender whispered as she looked down at her lap, looking miserable. "I mean, the baby's coming in two weeks but I don't actually know what to do." She looked ashamed at admitting it to her and Hermione felt her sympathy for the other woman grow.

"You're scared?" She asked softly, knowing that what Lavender needed in that moment wasn't pity.

Lavender's head shot up, an angry glare already in her eyes as they met Hermione's. Seeing nothing but understanding though, she deflated and sank further down into the couch.

"Yeah. I mean, the little one's the only one I have left and while Mrs. Weasley has been nothing but kind to me..." She trailed off, at a loss for words.

"You think you're going to insult her by admitting that you're scared and unsure what to do." Hermione finished and Lavender nodded, defeated.

"She's been so nice about everything and even took me in when my parents disinherited me." Lavender stated after a couple of seconds, seeing nothing as she stared at the table. "But I really don't want to stay and take advantage of her kindness any longer. I made my bed and now I have to lie in it." She was pale and Hermione got her to stand up, leading her into the kitchen and sitting her down at the table there. She magically began to heat the water in the kettle, seeing as she still had to finish cleaning the stove.

"Where would you go?" She asked, when it became clear that Lavender wasn't going to continue.

"I don't know." Lavender said, her gaze still slightly unfocused before she blew her nose again.

"Why are you here?" She asked next.

"I had nowhere else to go. Parvati's in India, my family won't even talk to me and my other 'friends' are ignoring me." She whispered and Hermione couldn't stop herself from feeling pity this time around. It was always hard, getting pregnant at such a young age, but having nobody to support you and everyone who you thought would support you turn away from you was just plain horrible.

The wizarding community could be really old-fashioned and too conservative at times.

"What do I do, Hermione?" She asked and the desperation was clear in her eyes. Hermione felt at a loss for words.

"I don't know, Lavender, I honestly don't. What do you want to do?" She had never felt particularly amicable towards Lavender but right now, she felt that she understood Lavender quite well. During her first pregnancy with Scorpius, she had had so many doubts but Draco had always been there for her to allay them. Lavender didn't have that though. The father of her child, Ron, was together with someone else and lived in another country and while he desired to play an active role in their child's life, he didn't want to be together with her. And while Hermione knew that Lavender didn't love Ron, she still wanted someone to be there for her in that way.

"I don't know. I think, after the pregnancy, that I want to leave, find my own place. But I don't want to insult Mrs. Weasley by leaving after the birth." Lavender whispered, her voice vulnerable.

Hermione set down a cup of tea in front of her and in that moment Ella decided to cry for her mother's attention.

"Excuse me for a minute." She said to Lavender and then left the kitchen, going upstairs to see what her daughter wanted. Her cries sounded like she needed to get her diapers changed.

Fifteen minutes later, she came back downstairs, carrying a gurgling Ella. The small girl glanced at Lavender as Hermione set her daughter down onto the ground, watching her with a hawk's eye as her youngest crawled up to the table and began knocking her hand against it's leg.

"How old is she?" Lavender asked, her eyes bright as she watched the small girl laugh at the sounds that she was producing by hitting her hand against the table's leg.

"She's a year old next month." Hermione replied, looking at her daughter fondly.

"How do you do it?" Lavender asked a couple of minutes later, Ella's laughter breaking the silence every so often.

"Hmm?" Hermione looked up, Ella remaining in the corner of her eyes.

"Four children. How do you manage?" Lavender asked, her eyes softer as she watched Ella.

"I don't know." Hermione smiled slightly at the shocked expression on Lavender's face. "I'm kind of just stumbling through it to be honest. When Scorpius arrived I was at a complete loss most of the time. He was always crying and I didn't know what to do. There were a couple of times when all I wanted to do was run away and just give up." She admitted, knowing that lying to Lavender about her true feelings wouldn't help the situation at all right now.

"What stopped you?" She asked, her eyes wide as she listened.

"Draco and Scorpius. Even when I wanted to give up, he encouraged me. He got up more often at night than I did." Hermione chuckled softly. "He was even more out of his depth than I was but he loved Scorpius unconditionally and I could really see that in all that he did. One moment really decided it for me though. It was after Scorpius had just recovered from a cold and I was completely exhausted and three months pregnant again at the time. It was in the early morning, just after the sun had risen and I was watching Scorpius in his cradle. He woke up and I thought that he was going to start crying again. Instead, when he looked up at me he blinked and then smiled." Hermione's smile was blissful, she was completely lost in the moment. "He looked up at me, gurgled a bit and then smiled. He reached up with his tiny hands for me and gurgled some more." Hermione coughed and ignored the way her eyes were tearing up. "In that moment I realised that he loved me as unconditionally as I loved him and I knew that no matter what happened I would be able to pull through. It's horrible at times, and more often than not, one really just wants to give up. But don't. It's always worth it in the end." She smiled at Lavender and for the first time since Lavender had arrived, she managed to crack a small smile too.

"Thank you, Hermione. I'll talk to Mrs. Weasley. I still have some of my inheritance, I'll manage to get a small place in London and I'll start looking for a job. Like I said, I made my bed and now I need to lie in it properly." Lavender got up, looking better than she had half an hour earlier. "I'll see you around."

"See you Lavender." Hermione accompanied her to the fireplace and watched her floo away.

She was sure that Lavender would be able to figure it out somehow.

~.~.~.~.~

"Hermione!" Hermione's head shot up at the sudden sound, her head banging against the inside of the oven, causing her to curse silently as she pulled her head out of it.

"In the kitchen!" She called back, muttering darkly under her breath as she held her head. Seriously, what was it with today? First Lavender, then Seamus half an hour after Lavender had left and now Ginny. It wasn't that she didn't love and care for her friends, but this was going past the limit. Only because it was Sunday didn't mean that everyone had to come and visit them!

"Hello little one." Ginny cooed as she walked past Ella in her fenced off play area and Hermione got up, still rubbing her head.

"Hey Gin, how are you?" She asked, going over to the sink and washing her hands.

"Good." Ginny grinned as she sat down at the kitchen table. "The training camp's going great, the Holyhead Harpies are absolutely brilliant!" She was beaming as she said this and Hermione couldn't help but smile at Ginny's obvious enthusiasm.

"That's great to hear Gin." She sat down herself, rubbing her head, realising that a bump was forming.

Drat. She hoped that she hadn't given herself a concussion.

Ginny continued to talk in great detail about what she'd done at the training camp and what they were still planning to do. She also talked about her team mates and about strategies that they were forming. A lot of the actual Quidditch stuff flew over Hermione's head though, she still didn't understand the game any better after nearly eleven years, eight of which included being married to a man who adored the game.

"But what I really wanted to know was whether you'd heard anything from Harry." That snapped Hermione out of her musings whether she should finally tell Ginny that maybe she shouldn't tell her all of this Quidditch stuff because she quite frankly couldn't keep track of it.

"I last heard from him nine or ten days ago." Hermione replied, watching Ginny, a pointed look on her face. "You know, it would make everyone's life easier if you told him that you want him to apologise and get back together." Being blunt was the only way to go now.

"I know." Ginny sighed. "And all of his flowers and dinners are great and all."

Complete avoidance of what Hermione had said.

"You." She pointed at Ginny. "Need to talk to him. Promptly." She couldn't get anymore blunt than this.

"Hermione..." Ginny whined.

"No, Gin. It is seriously driving me insane that the two people who really deserve to find happiness with each other are doing everything to avoid it. Give him an ultimatum if you have to. But seriously, be honest with him and just tell him because it isn't going to get any better with the whole 'avoiding the massive elephant in the room' thing you are doing right now." Hermione raised her eyebrow for good measure.

Ginny sighed. "Okay, I will. But first you have to show me some pictures of your kids, you promised me you would the next time I was able to come visit." Ginny said and Hermione actually let her head fall down onto the table with a 'plonk'.

Really, people these days could be so wonderfully purposefully ignorant.

It was really rather annoying.


	11. Miracles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miracles come in all shapes and sizes. It's the little ones that blindside you more often than not though.

"Mrs. Weasley." Lavender's voice sounded sort of choked and Ginny looked up from the magazine that she had been reading. So did her Mum from her position in front of the stove where she had just been taking a cake out of it.

"Lavender, what's wrong?" Her Mum sounded worried and when Lavender doubled over, holding her stomach, it became pretty clear as to what was happening.

"I think the baby's coming." She whispered, sounding pained as contractions wracked her body and her Mum ran forward, catching the other woman and letting her lean on her as her face twisted in pain.

"Ginny, get your father and then get Ron. Now!" She ordered her daughter and Ginny sprung up immediately, knowing that now was not a time to dally. Her dad was at the Ministry but Ron...Ron was staying with Hermione in France so she would have to floo over to her for a second time today and try to find where Ron was and then get him to St. Mungo's as fast as humanly possible.

There went her one free weekend in this month.  
  
But for her future niece or nephew, she would gladly sacrifice it.

~.~.~.~.~

Hermione practically growled in annoyance as the floo roared to life once more. Couldn't she be left alone for just one hour this Sunday? Just one? When she got to the room where their floo fireplace was situated in, she was confronted with the sight of an exceedingly frantic Ginny. One who looked quite panicked if Hermione were to be honest.

"Gin, what's-" She began.

"Where's Ron?" Ginny interrupted her, looking around the room as if hoping to find her brother hiding behind an armchair.

"What?" Hermione felt slightly surprised by Ginny's suddenly quite demanding tone.

"Ron. Where is he?" Ginny asked again, this time looking even more antsy.

"He's with Draco and Pansy at the office in Paris. Why?" She asked, as Ginny already began marching back towards the fireplace.

"The baby's coming." Was the response she received and it clicked for Hermione. That was why Ginny was looking so nervous.

"Say, what're the office's address?" Ginny asked, now looking slightly sheepish as she stood in the fireplace, with a healthy amount of floo powder in her hand.

"I'll send a patronus to Draco to bring Ron and Pansy here and then I can come with you while he looks after the children. I think your brother's going to need all the support he can get." Hermione said decisively, knowing that the baby wasn't going to 'pop out' that quickly if Lavender's contractions had just begun. They still had a couple of hours. And anyway, even if she gave Ginny the address of the office, Ginny wouldn't know where to find Ron in the building and knowing her husband, they were probably in an area that one couldn't just walk into but needed some sort of access to it.

"Okay." Ginny nodded but now looked slightly lost as she still stood in the fireplace, not quite knowing what to do now that her task had essentially been taken care of.

Hermione sent off her patronus with a message to Draco and looked slightly amused when she turned back around and saw that Ginny was still standing in the fireplace.

"Why don't you come out of there?" She asked and Ginny shook herself out of her stupor. "Your mum's taken Lavender to St. Mungo's, right?"

"Yeah." Ginny nodded absently. "Was that a ferret?" She asked and Hermione knew that she was referring to her patronus.

"Yes." Hermione smiled and Ginny grinned, her face lighting up.

"I bet he hates that." She looked extraordinarily happy at that and Hermione chuckled.

"He did, but he's fine with it now. Just don't mention the fact that Crouch turned him into one in fourth year and you'll be fine. Considering that he has Crookshanks as his though, I think that he's given up on patronus' in general."

"He has Crookshanks as his patronus?" Ginny guffawed and Hermione grinned. Her attempts at distracting Ginny were working. The less the other girl thought about her impeding aunthood, the less likely she was going to panic (which she had obviously been about to do when she had arrived here; the first baby was always a memorable one) and the less likely it was that Ron was going to instantly panic even more than he probably already was when he arrived.

"Yeah. Crooks loved him and I think he loved him too, somewhere at the bottom of his heart. He just didn't appreciate Crooks jumping onto our bed in the morning." Hermione smiled and the fireplace roared to life, causing Ginny to jump slightly.

An exceedingly frazzled Ron tumbled out of it, followed by Pansy and then Draco.

"You're going too, aren't you?" Draco asked as soon as he stepped into the room and Hermione nodded. Her husband knew her so well.

"St. Mungo's?" Pansy asked Ginny at the same time and she replied in the affirmative.

Ron looked like he was about to be sick.

"Come on, let's get you there." Pansy said, who thankfully didn't look like she was panicking unlike Ron, and dragged him into the fireplace.

"Wait for me!" Ginny ran after them and flooed to St. Mungo's as soon as the two of them had vanished in a burst of green flames.

"I'll see you later." Draco kissed her briefly on the lips and she smiled before she took her jacket and handbag from their pegs next to the fireplace and took some floo powder into her hand.

"I'll call you should anything happen." He nodded and then the flames swallowed her too as she yelled out her destination.

~.~.~.~.~

The sight that met Pansy in the waiting room was one that she had admittedly expected, but which was overwhelming nonetheless. All of the Weasleys were there, including George and Bill, although their wives were absent. Even Charlie was there and Pansy saw Harry moving over towards them through the crowd of ginger heads.

"Ron." He greeted his best friend. "Pansy." He nodded at her with a slight smile that she returned. "How is he?" He pointed towards Ron with his head and Pansy saw that her boyfriend was looking slightly out of it.

"I think the fact that he's about to become a father is settling in." She replied, noting that Ron was now beginning to pull his hands through his hair in a very familiar nervous gesture.

"You mean that he's not realised it till now?" Harry asked, feeling slightly incredulous as he looked at his best friend.

"I think that he's known that he's about to become a father for months. I just don't think that it's really hit him until now." Pansy replied and she let Ron go as he walked up to his mother and began to frantically talk to her, his hands moving up and down in the air as he tried to explain something to her.  
  
 While moving to Japan had been sorely needed, it hadn't really given Ron the chance to really confront his impeding fatherhood as head on as he would have had he stayed in England.

"Well, it is sort of surreal." Harry said softly and Pansy looked over at him, noticing that he looked wistful.

"It's not something that any of us expected." Pansy agreed, surprised that she and Harry were talking. While they had occasionally conversed during their last six months at Hogwarts, they hadn't talked that much and she had gotten the feeling that he sort of resented her for going to Japan and therefore giving Ron another reason to go as well. While Harry and Ron had reconciled and were now back to talking over the phone at least once a week, Pansy just knew that some part of Harry was still irrationally annoyed at her for 'stealing' away his best friend even if he wouldn't admit it.

Harry chuckled slightly. "A year ago I thought, 'Thank god it's over, maybe we'll finally have a good and calm year this year' but no. We get another year filled with drama, spells that mess up our lives and problems that just cannot be solved."

"You're Harry Potter, I think it's just part of your life." Pansy quipped and Harry looked at her in surprise before laughing.

"That's true." He grinned and Pansy smiled slightly.

"Ron's really caused you to thaw, hasn't he?" Harry asked a couple of minutes later, still standing next to her. He probably felt as out of place as she did in the masses of Weasleys pacing up and down as they waited for the child to arrive. They were the two interlopers amongst the entire bunch of them. Hermione was as well but as she had gone through pregnancy before she knew the scene and what happened. They were completely in the dark.

"Yeah." Pansy nodded, her eyes softening.

"Good." Harry smiled slightly lop-sidedly at her and she also smiled back, knowing that they had now reached some sort of truce, strange as it was. Oh well, at least it wasn't the strangest thing that had happened to her over the past few months. And really, the waiting room of a hospital while waiting for Ron's and Lavender's child to arrive wasn't the strangest place it could have happened in either.

"They do know that it's going to take a couple of hours, don't they?" Hermione asked as she joined the two of them. She had attempted to calm Ron down, and Mrs. Weasley too while she was at it, but neither of them were anywhere close to a state that one could refer to as 'calm'. Rather, it seemed as if her efforts had only served to make them even more nervous.

"I don't know." Pansy said and then looked at Hermione. "Wait, it takes a couple of hours?"

Hermione chuckled at the slight horror-stricken expression on Pansy's face. "Yes, it does."

"Hours?" Harry looked equally shell-shocked. "We have to wait for a couple of hours?"

"Yes." Hermione grinned at their reactions.

"How do you know?" Harry turned to her.

"Hello? Four kids?" She replied and his eyes widened. Drat, apparently his brain had decided to go on vacation today.

"Blimey, I forgot that." He muttered to himself and that made even Pansy laugh.

~.~.~.~.~

"How's he holding up?" Draco's voice asked as Hermione pressed her phone closer to her ear in order to hear him better over the noise of the hospital around her.

"I think he's okay now. At least, he's calmed down a bit after Harry managed to finally talk to him. Lavender's contractions are only a couple of minutes apart now, I think the baby will be here soon." She replied, looking over at Ron who, despite his pacing, was indeed looking a lot calmer. Pansy was sitting on a chair, watching him, yawning every so often while Harry had already nodded off.

"Well, it has been eight hours since her labour started and if she's going into active labour now, then it'll still be a couple of hours." Draco replied and Hermione heard Scorpius ask him something in the background.

"Yeah, I'd say at least another four or five hours, by which time Ron will probably have worn the floor out." Hermione responded. "And tell Scorpius 'hi' from me, will you?"

"Mummy says 'hi.'" She heard Draco say to their six year old son. "I'll be there to read you a story in a minute, go back to bed and I'll be there soon. I just need to tell your mother goodbye."

Hermione smiled softly as she listened.

"I guess I'll have to talk to you later then?"

"Yeah, he wants me to read him 'The Three Musketeers' again, he loves that story especially when he can't sleep. Why did you show it to him again? I swear I've read it at least twenty times in the last six months, I can probably recite it off by heart." Her husband grouched and Hermione chuckled slightly. It was eleven at night, he was entitled to be grouchy.

"Because it's a great story, with some absolutely great morals. I'll see you later, bye."

"Yeah. Night."

"I love you." She said softly.

"I love you too. And don't forget to get some sleep."

She chuckled again. "I will." A click indicated that the call had ended. She put her phone back in her pocket and sat down next to Pansy, watching Ron pace.

"Ron, you need to sit down at some point, you're wearing out the floor." She pointed out, not able to stop a yawn from overtaking her.

He merely sent her a look and continued to pace. Hermione looked at Pansy who just shrugged.

Ah well, they were in for another couple of long hours.

~.~.~.~.~

"It's here!" The shout from Mrs. Weasley woke Pansy up and she nearly toppled off her chair. Next to her, Hermione shook herself awake too, eyes bleary as she attempted to get rid of the remnants of her sleep. Harry woke up with a start to her other side while Ron walked straight over to his mother.

"Is she okay? Is the baby okay?" He fired at her. Mrs. Weasley had been the only one allowed in, Lavender hadn't wanted anyone else. Pansy knew that it stung for Ron to not actually be physically in the same room as where his child was being born, but she also knew that he understood why Lavender didn't want him there. But it hurt nonetheless.

"Yeah, he's fine." Mrs. Weasley grinned.

"It's a boy?" He breathed out, his eyes filled with wonder and Pansy got up and stood next to him, rubbing his arm as he finally stopped moving around.

"Yes, a small gorgeous little boy. She wants you and Pansy to come in." She smiled, her eyes bright but weary from the long night.

"Me too?" Pansy was surprised. Why would Lavender want her there too?

"Yes. She wants to see both of you." Mrs. Weasley nodded and then walked over to where her own husband was slowly waking up, already beginning to gush about her gorgeous new grandson.

Ron gave her a piercing look and entwined their hands and both set off down the corridor towards Lavender's room. A nurse pointed them in the right direction and once they had reached the door, Ron took a shuddering breath and Pansy noticed that he was shaking.

"It's going to be fine." She said soothingly, rubbing his arm with her free hand. Carefully, she pushed open the door and Ron followed her into the room, the nervousness literally radiating off of him.

Lavender looked up from where she was lying on the bed and Pansy took a step back and pushed Ron forward as she saw the small bundle lying in Lavender's arms. Lavender looked absolutely exhausted and some of her hair was plastered to the side of her face. Pansy could say, with absolute certainty, that she had never seen the other witch happier.

"Hugo, meet your dad. Ron, come and meet Hugo." She said softly, her voice scratchy from exhaustion and the hours of screaming that she had just left behind her.

Ron stepped forward and Pansy stepped backwards, leaning against the wall as she watched Ron make his way to the bed.

"Hi Hugo." He said quietly, his voice breaking as he stared down in wonder at his son.

"Do you want to hold him?" Lavender asked and Ron nodded, unable to say a word as the small bundle that was his son was put into his arms.

"He's beautiful." He whispered, his voice filled with emotion.

"Yes, he is." Lavender nodded and she smiled. Seeing Pansy, she beckoned for her to come forward. Pansy moved over to stand next to the bed and Lavender smiled again at the confusion that must have been clear on her face.

Ron slowly put Hugo back into his mother's arms and Lavender crooned at her son.

"Come here." She told Pansy and as Pansy stared down at the small, reddish baby lying in Lavender's arms, she didn't quite know what to feel.

"Hugo, meet your Aunt Pansy, she's quite important to your daddy." Lavender said and Pansy's and Ron's eyes widened. Pansy's jaw fell open. Was Lavender really-?

Lavender reached up and took her hand and led it to Hugo. The small boy cracked open his eyes and Pansy was met with the warmest brown that she had ever seen. Lavender slipped Pansy's pinky into her son's hand and he immediately wrapped his tiny fingers around it.

Wonder filled Pansy and she felt Ron slip his own hand into her remaining free one. There were tears in his eyes.

"This is your family, why don't you say hello." Lavender's voice was soft and warm and the little boy, as if he understood Lavender's words, opened up his eyes fully and blinked up at all of them.

For the rest of her life, Pansy would deny that she had tears in her eyes at that very moment too.  
  
It was the day that she started to believe in miracles again.

~.~.~.~.~

Blaise swallowed nervously as he put the pasta that he had made onto the table. Luna had been pleasantly surprised when he had asked her to stop by that day for dinner. She had returned from South America two days ago and since then she had been more than just preoccupied with cleaning up her dad's house as no one had been there in the past two months while she had been off with Doctor Scamandar doing god-knows-what.

"It smells good. Did you make it?" She asked and Blaise flashed her a smile, nodding.

"Yeah, it's one of my dad's recipes." He replied, taking off his apron and slinging it over the back of his chair. Before sitting down however, he took the bottle of red wine, that until that moment had been standing in the centre of the table, and poured both himself and Luna a glass of it.

"I didn't know your dad used to cook." She waited patiently for him to sit down, having picked up on his nervousness long ago. She wondered what it was.

"Yeah, his parents owned a small restaurant near Verona so it was kind of tradition that he knew how to cook. They were quite unconventional for purebloods." He shrugged and Luna was glad to see that he had relaxed slightly while talking about his grandparents.

"Do they still live there?" She asked, starting to eat her pasta. The olive pesto was giving it quite an interesting taste.

"Yeah, but my uncle runs the restaurant nowadays. They're retired." Blaise took a sip from his glass and then dug into the food. Whenever he was nervous, he grew hungry. It kind of went hand in hand. But Draco had said that she wouldn't turn him down so he could only hope that it would be as his best friend had told him.

"Maybe we should visit them next time we have some holidays together." She suggested and he nodded absently and then nearly choked on his food once his brain caught up to what she had said. She wanted to meet his family?

"Are you okay?" Luna asked, her brow furrowing as she watched Blaise take a large gulp of wine to prevent himself from actually choking.

"Yeah, fine." He managed to croak out. Seriously, no one else managed to blindside him as often as Luna did.

"Are you sure? You've had a large amount of wrackspurts flying around your head all evening." She looked so genuinely worried about him that Blaise swallowed heavily and decided to just get it over and done with. The worst she could do was turn him down anyway.

"Yeah, I am fine." He reached across the table and took her hand. He swallowed again, it was now or never. "I was just wondering- Well I have been wondering for quite some time now- What I really want to say is- I mean, would you- Or no, how about-"

"Blaise?" Luna looked faintly amused and ever so slightly worried to see him stumble over his words.

"I wanted to know whether you would want to move in with me?" He asked and she stilled, her face overcome with surprise.

"I mean, you don't have to or anything, I was just wondering, you know, whether it would be nice and-" He was looking anywhere but her. He didn't want to see the rejection on her face before she said it.

"Blaise, do be quiet, will you?" Luna's voice was stern and Blaise's head snapped up as he stared at her in surprise. Luna got up, never letting go of his hand as she moved over to his side. "You can be such an idiot sometimes." And she kissed him on the lips, Blaise's eyes widening as he looked up at her. "Of course I'd love to move in with you. But first I have to get some more wine, seeing as you drank nearly the whole bottle."

And she smiled as she let go of his hand, walking towards the kitchen. He stared after her in open wonder.

"You'll have to help me with my dad's house though. If I'm moving in we're going to have to find all the wrackspurts and nargles a new place to live. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Weasley will allow some of them to stay at the Burrow with them." Luna's voice floated towards him from the kitchen and he couldn't help the pure and unadultered laughter that escaped him.

She truly was a miracle.


End file.
